A  Short  History 

of 

Womerfs  Rights 


Eugene  A.  Hacker 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


mmmmmmmmmsB 


mmtmmmmmm^i 


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LIBRARY 

OF  THE   •  ^ 

University  of  California. 


Class 


A  Short  History  of 
Women's  Rights 


From  the  Days  of  Augustus  to  the  Present 

Time.     With  Special  Reference  to 

England  and  the  United  States 


By 

Eugene   A,  Hecker 

Master  in  the  Roxbury  Latin  School 
Author  of  "  The  Teaching  of  Latin  in  Secondary  Schools" 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 
Cbe  Itnicfterbocker   press 
1911 


Copyright,  igio 

BY 

EUGENE  A.  HECKER 


Vbe  Knfcfierbocker  pres*»  l^ew  fiocft 


MY   MOTHER 


I. 


PREFACE 

WHILE  making  some  researches  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  women's  rights,  I  was  impressed 
by  the  fact  that  no  one  had  ever,  as  far  as  I  could 
discover,  attempted  to  give  a  succinct  account  of 
the  matter  for  English-speaking  nations.  Indeed, 
I  do  not  believe  that  any  writer  in  any  country 
has  essayed  such  a  task  except  Laboulaye;  and 
his  Recherches  sur  la  Condition  Civile  et  Politique 
des  Femmes,  published  in  1843,  leaves  much  to 
be  desired  to  one  who  is  interested  in  the  subject 
to-day. 

I  have,  therefore,  made  an  effort  to  fill  a  lack. 
This  purpose  has  been  strengthened  as  I  have 
reflected  on  the  great  amount  of  confused  informa- 
tion which  is  absorbed  by  those  who  have  no 
time  to  make  investigations  for  themselves. 
Accordingly,  in  order  to  present  an  accurate  his- 
torical review,  I  have  cited  my  authorities  for 
all  statements  regarding  which  any  question  could 
be  raised.  This  is  particularly  so  in  the  chapters 
which  deal  with  the  condition  of  women  under 
Roman  Law,  under  the  early  Christian  Church, 
and  under  Canon  Law.  In  all  these  instances  I 
have  gone  directly  to  primary  soiurces,  have 
investigated   them   myself,    and   have   admitted 


VI 


Preface 


no  second-hand  evidence.  In  connection  with 
women's  rights  in  England  and  in  the  United 
States  I  have  either  consulted  the  statutes  or 
studied  the  commentaries  of  jurists,  like  Messrs. 
Pollock  and  Maitland,  whose  authority  cannot 
be  doubted.  To  such  I  have  given  the  exact 
references  whenever  they  have  been  used.  In 
preparing  the  chapter  on  the  progress  of  women's 
rights  in  the  United  States  I  derived  great 
assistance  from  the  very  exhaustive  History  of 
Woman  Suffrage,  edited  by  Miss  Susan  B. 
Anthony,  Mrs.  Ida  H.  Harper,  and  others  to 
whose  imselfish  labours  we  are  for  ever  indebted. 
From  their  volumes  I  have  drawn  freely;  but  I 
have  not  given  each  specific  reference. 

The  tabulation  of  the  laws  of  the  several  States 
which  I  have  given  naturally  cannot  be  entirely 
adequate,  because  the  laws  are  being  changed 
constantly.  It  is  often  difficult  to  procure  the 
latest  revised  statutes.  However,  these  laws  are 
recent  enough  to  illustrate  the  evolution  of  wo- 
men's rights. 

Finally,  this  volimie  was  written  in  no  hope  that 
all  readers  would  agree  with  the  author,  who  is 
zealous  in  his  cause.  His  purpose  will  be  gained 
if  he  induces  the  reader  to  reflect  for  himself  on 
the  problem  in  the  light  of  its  historical  develop- 
ment. 

E.  A.  H. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  1910. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

PAGB 

Women's  Rights  under  Roman  Law     .         .        i 


chapter  ii 
Women  and  the  Early  Christian  Church    .       52 

chapter  iii 

Rights    of    Women    as    Modified    by    the 

Christian  Emperors      ....       65 

chapter  iv 
Women  among  the  Germanic  Peoples  .      77 

chapter  v 

Digression  on  the  Later  History  of  Roman 

Law      . 100 

chapter  vi 

The  Canon  Law  and  the  Attitude  of  the 

Roman  Catholic  Church       .         .         .106 


viii  Contents 


CHAPTER  VII 

PAGE 

History  of  Women's  Rights  in  England      .     120 


CHAPTER  viii 

Women's  Rights  in  the  United  States  .         .150 

chapter  ix 
General  Considerations   .         •        .        .     236 

Index 289 


A  Short  History  of  Women's  Rights 


A  Short  History  of 
Women's  Rights 


CHAPTER  I 

women's     rights    under    ROMAN    LAW,     FROM 
AUGUSTUS  TO  JUSTINIAN — 2"]  B.C.  TO 
527  A.D. 

THE  age  of  legal  capability  for  the  Roman 
woman  was  after  the  twelfth  year,  at  which 
period  she  was  permitted  to  make  a  will.  ^  ouardian- 
However,  she  was  by  no  means  allowed  ^^^' 

to  do  so  entirely  on  her  own  account,  but  only 
under  supervision.^  This  superintendence  was 
vested  in  the  father  or,  if  he  was  dead,  in  a  guard- 
ian^; if  the  woman  was  married,  the  power  be- 
longed to  the  husband.  The  consent  of  such 
supervision,    whether    of    father,    husband,    or 

^  Paulus,  iii,  4a,  i. 

»Ulpian,  Tit.,  xx,  16.     Galus,  li,  112. 

3  Male  relatives  on  the  father's  side — agnati — were  guardians 
in  such  cases;  these  failing,  the  judge  of  the  supreme  court 
(praetor)  assigned  one.  See  Ulpian,  Tit.,  xi,  3,  4,  and  24. 
Gaius,  i,  185,  and  iii,  10.  Libertae  (freed women)  took  as  guar- 
dians their  former  masters. 

I 


2  History  of  Women's  Rights 

guardian,  was  essential,  as  Ulpian  informs  us,* 
under  these  circumstances:  if  the  woman  entered 
into  any  legal  action,  obligation,  or  civil  contract; 
if  she  wished  her  freedwoman  to  cohabit  with 
another's  slave;  if  she  desired  to  free  a  slave;  if 
she  sold  any  things  mancipi,  that  is,  such  as 
estates  on  Italian  soil,  houses,  rights  of  road  or 
aqueduct,  slaves,  and  beasts  of  burden.  Through- 
out her  life  a  woman  was  supposed  to  remain 
absolutely  under  the  power  ^  of  father,  husband,  or 
guardian,  and  to  do  nothing  without  their  consent. 
In  ancient  times,  indeed,  this  authority  was  so 
great  that  the  father  and  husband  could,  after 
calling  a  family  council,  put  the  woman  to  death 
without  public  trial.  ^  The  reason  that  women 
were  so  subjected  to  guardianship  was  "on  account 
of  their  imsteadiness  of  character, "^  "the  weak- 
ness of  the  sex,"  and  their  "ignorance  of  legal 
matters."  s  Under  certain  circumstances,  how- 
ever, women  became  sui  iuris  or  entirely  in- 
dependent: I.  By  the  birth  of  three  children 
(a  freedwoman  by  four)^;  II.  By  becoming  a 
Vestal  Virgin,  of  whom  there  were  but  six 7;  III. 
By   a  formal   emancipation,    which   took   place 

« Ulpian,  Tit,  xi,  27. 

» The  power  of_the  father  was  called  potestas;  that  of  the  hus- 
band, manus. 

a  Aulus  Gellius,  x,  23.     Cf.  Suetonius,  Tiberius,  35. 

*  Gaius,  i,  144. 
•Ulpian,  Tit.,  xi,  i. 

•  Ulpian,  Tit.,  xi,  28a.     Gaius,  i,  194.     Paulus,  iv,  9,  1-9. 
1  Gaius,  i,  145.    Ulpian,  Tit.,  x,  5. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  3 

rarely,  and  then  often  only  with  a  view  of  trans- 
ferring the  power  from  one  guardian  to  another.  ^ 
Even  when  sui  iuris  a  woman  could  not  acquire 
power  over  any  one,  not  even  over  her  own  child- 
ren =";  for  these  an  agnate — a  male  relative  on  the 
father's  side — was  appointed  guardian,  and  the 
mother  was  obliged  to  render  him  and  her  child- 
ren an  account  of  any  property  which  she  had 
managed  for  them.^  On  the  other 'hand,  her 
children  were  bound  to  support  her/ 

So  much  for  the  laws  on  the  subject.  They 
seem  rigorous  enough,  and  in  early  times  were 

doubtless    executed    with    strictness.      A  Digression  on 

marked  feature,  however,  of  the  Roman  *  ^re^pJTt  for 
character,  a  peculiarity  which  at  once  ^°"«° 

strikes  the  student  of  their  history  as  compared 
with  that  of  the  Greeks,  was  their  great  respect 
for  the  home  and  the  materfamilias.  The  stories 
of  Lucretia,  Cloelia,  Virginia,  Cornelia,  Arria, 
and  the  like,  familiar  to  every  Roman  schoolboy, 
must  have  raised  greatly  the  esteem  in  which 
women  were  held.  As  Rome  became  a  world 
power,  the  Romans  likewise  grew  in  breadth  of 
view,  in  equity,  and  in  tolerance.     The  political 

I  Gaius,  i,  137.  For  an  example  see  Pliny,  Letters,  viii,  18.  Cf. 
Spartianus.  Didius  lulianus,  8:  filiam  suam,  potitus  imperio, 
dato  patrimonio,  emancipaverat.     See  also  Dio,  73,  7  (Xiphilin). 

If  emancipated  children  insulted  or  injured  their  parents, 
they  lost  their  independence — Codex,  8,  49  (50),  i. 

^  Ulpian,  Tit.,  viii,  ya. 

3  Paulus,  i,  4,  4:  Mater,  quae  filiorum  suorum  rebus  inter- 
venit,  actione  negotiorum  gestorum  et  ipsis  et  eorum  tutoribus 
tenebitur.  4  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  25,  3,  5. 


4  History  of  Women's  Rights 

influence  wielded  by  women '  was  as  great  during 
the  first  three  centuries  after  Christ  as  it  has  ever 
been  at  any  period  of  the  worid's  history;  and  the 
powers  of  a  Livia,  an  Agrippina,  a  Plotina,  did  not 
fail  to  show  pointedly  what  a  woman  could  do. 
In  the  early  days  of  the  Republic  women  who 
touched  wine  were  severely  pimished  and  male 
relatives  were  accustomed  solemnly  to  kiss  them, 
if  haply  they  might  discover  the  odour  of  drink  on 
their  breath.  =*    Valerius  Maximus  tells  us  that 

«For  Livia's  great  influence  over  Augustus  see  Seneca,  de 
Clementia,  i,  9,  6.  Tacitus,  Annals,  i,  3,  4,  and  5,  and  ii,  34. 
Dio,  55,  14-21,  and  56,  47. 

Agrippina  dominated  Claudius — Tacitus,  Annals,  xii,  37. 
Dio,  60,  33.  Caenis,  the  concubine  of  Vespasian,  amassed  great 
wealth  and  sold  public  offices  right  and  left — Dio,  65,  14.  Plo- 
tina, wife  of  Trajan,  engineered  Hadrian's  succession — Eutro- 
pius,  viii,  6.  Dio,  69,  i.  A  concubine  formed  the  conspiracy 
which  overthrew  Commodus — Herodian,  i,  16-17.  The  plotting 
of  Maesa  put  Heliogabalus  on  the  throne — Capitolinus,  Macri- 
nus,  9-10.  Alexander  Severus  was  ruled  by  his  mother  Mam- 
maea — Lampridius,  Alex.  Severus,  14;  Herodian,  vi,  i,  i  and  9. 
Gallienus  invited  women  to  his  cabinet  meetings — Trebellius 
PoUio,  Gallienus,  16.  The  wives  of  governors  took  such  a  strenu- 
ous part  in  politics  and  army  matters  that  it  caused  the  Senate 
grave  concern — see  examples  in  Tacitus,  Annals,  iii,  33  and  34, 
and  iv,  20;  also  i,  69,  and  ii,  55;  id.  Hist.,  iii,  69.  Velleius  Pater- 
culus,  ii,  74  (Fulvia). 

Of  course,  no  woman  ever  had  a  right  to  vote;  but  neither  did 
anybody  else,  since  the  Roman  govenmient  had  become  an 
absolute  despotism.  The  first  woman  on  the  throne  was  Pul- 
cheria,  who,  in  450  a.d.,  was  proclaimed  Empress  of  the  East, 
succeeding  her  brother,  Theodosius  II.  But  she  soon  took  a 
husband  and  made  him  Emperor.  She  had  been  practically  sole 
ruler  since  414. 

»  Plutarch,  Roman  Questions,  6.  Aulus  Gellius,  x,  23.  Athen- 
aeus,  X,  56. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  5 

Egnatius  Mecenas,  a  Roman  knight,  beat  his 
wife  to  death  for  drinking  wine.  ^  Cato  the  Censor 
(234-149  B.C.)  dilated  with  joy  on  the  fact  that  a 
woman  could  be  condemned  to  death  by  her  hus- 
band for  adultery  without  a  public  trial,  whereas 
men  were  allowed  any  number  of  infidelities 
without  censure.  ^  The  senator  Metellus  (131  B.C.) 
lamented  that  Nature  had  made  it  necessary  to 
have  women.  ^ 

The  boorish  cynicism  of  a  Cato  and  a  Metellus 
— though  it  never  expressed  the  real  feelings  of  the 
majority  of  Romans — gave  way,  however,  under 
the  Empire  to  a  generous  expression  of  the  equality 
of  the  sexes  in  the  realms  of  morality  and  of 
intellect.  "I  know  what  you  may  say,"  writes 
Seneca  to  Marcia,^  **'You  have  forgotten  that 
you  are  consoling  a  woman;  you  cite  examples  of 
fortitude  on  the  part  of  men.  *  But  who  said  that 
Nature  had  acted  scurvily  with  the  characters  of 
women  and  had  contracted  their  virtues  into  a 
narrow  sphere?  Equal  force,  believe  me,  is 
possessed  by  them;  equal  capability  for  what  is 

*  Valerius  Maximus,  vi,  3,  9.  For  this  he  was  not  even  blamed, 
but  rather  received  praise  for  the  excellent  example. 

*  Aulus  Gellius,  x,  23.  A  woman  in  the  Menaechmi  of  Plautus, 
iv,  6,  I,  complains  justly  of  this  double  standard  of  morality: 

Nam  si  vir  scortum  duxit  clam  uxorem  suam, 
Id  si  rescivit  uxor,  impune  est  viro. 
Uxor  viro  si  clam  domo  egressa  est  foras, 
Viro  fit  causa,  exigitur  matrimonio. 
Utinam  lex  esset  eadem  quae  uxori  est  viro! 

3  Aulus  Gellius,  i,  6. 

4  De  Consolatione  ad  Marciam,  xvi,  i. 


6    "      History  of  Women's  Rights 

honorable,  if  they  so  wish."  The  Emperor  Marcus 
Aurelius  gratefully  recalls  that  from  his  mother  he 
learned  piety  and  generosity,  and  to  refrain  not 
only  from  doing  ill,  but  even  from  thinking  it, 
and  simplicity  of  life,  far  removed  from  the 
ostentatious  display  of  wealth. '  The  passionate 
attachment  of  men  like  Quintilian  and  Pliny  to 
their  wives  exhibits  an  equality  based  on  love  that 
would  do  honoiu-  to  the  most  Christian  households.^ 
All  Roman  historians  speak  with  great  admiration 
of  the  many  heroic  deeds  performed  by  women 
and  are  fond  of  citing  conspicuous  examples  of 
conjugal    affection.^     The    masterly    and    sym- 


»  Commentaries,  A,  Y. 

» Quintilian,  Instit.  Oral.,  vi,  I,  5.  Pliny,  Letters,  vi,  4  and  7, 
and  vii,  5. 

3  Great  admiration  expressed  for  Paulina,  wife  of  Seneca,  who 
opened  her  veins  to  accompany  her  husband  in  death — Tacitus, 
Annals,  xv,  63,  64.  Story  of  Arria  and  Paetus — Pliny,  Letters, 
iii,  16.  Martial,  i,  13.  The  famous  instance  of  Epponina, 
under  Vespasian,  and  her  attachment  to  her  condemned  hus- 
band— Tacitus,  Hist.,  iv,  67.  Tacitus  mentions  that  many 
ladies  accompanied  their  husbands  to  exile  and  death — Annals, 
xvi,  10,  II.  Numerous  instances  are  related  by  Pliny  of  tender 
and  happy  marriages,  terminated  only  by  death — see,  e.g..  Let- 
ters, viii,  5.  Pliny  the  elder  tells  how  M.  Lepidus  died  of  regret 
for  his  wife  after  being  divorced  from  her — N.  H.,  vii,  36.  Val- 
erius Maximus  devotes  a  whole  chapter  to  Conjugal  Love — 
iv,  6.  But  the  best  examples  of  deep  affection  are  seen  in  tomb 
inscriptions — e.  g.,  CIL  i,  1103,  viii,  8123,  ii,  3596,  v,  i,  3496,  v,  2, 
7066,  X,  8192,  vi,  3,  15696,  15317,  and  17690.  Man  and  wife 
are  often  represented  with  arms  thrown  about  one  another's 
shoulders  to  signify  1;hat  they  were  united  in  death  as  in  life. 
The  poet  Statius  remarks  that  "to  love  a  wife  when  she  is  living 
is  pleasure;  to  love  her  when  dead,  a  solemn  duty"  (Silvae, 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  7 

pathetic  delineation  of  Dido  in  the  Aeneid  shows 
how  deeply  a  Roman  could  appreciate  the  charac- 
ter of  a  noble  woman.  In  the  numerous  provisions 
for  the  public  education  at  the  state's  expense 
girls  were  given  the  same  opportunities  and 
privileges  as  boys ;  there  were  five  thousand  boys 
and  girls  educated  by  Trajan  alone. ' 

Such  are  a  few  examples  of  the  growth  of  respect 
for  women;  and  we  should  naturally  conclude 
that,  as  time  progressed,  the  unjust  Decay  of  the 
laws  of  guardianship  would  no  longer  power  of  the 
be  executed  to  the  letter,  even  though 
the  hard  statutes  were  not  formally  expunged. 
This  was  the  case  during  the  first  three  centuries 
after  Christ,  as  is  patent  from  many  sources.  It 
is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  because  a  law  is  on  the 
books,  does  not  mean  necessarily  that  it  is  en- 
forced. A  law  is  no  stronger  than  public  opinion. 
Of  this  anomaly  there  are  plenty  of  instances  even 
to-day — the  Blue  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  for 
example.  "That  women  of  mature  age  should  be 
under  guardianship,"  writes  the  great  jurist 
Gaius^  in  the  second  century,  "seems  to  have  no 
valid  reason  as  foundation.  For  what  is  com- 
monly believed,  to  the  effect  that  on  account  of 
unsteadiness    of    character    they    are    generally 

in  prooemio) .  Yet  some  theologians  would  have  us  believe  that 
conjugal  love  and  fidelity  is  an  invention  of  Christianity. 

^  Pliny,  Panegyricus,  26.  For  other  instances  see  Capitoli- 
nus,  Anton.  Pius,  8;  Lampridius,  Alex.  Severus,  57;  Spartianus, 
Hadrian,  7,  8,  9;  Capitolinus,  M.  Anton.  Phil.,  11. 

*  Gains,  i,  190. 


8  History  of  Women's  Rights 

hoodwinked,  and  that,  therefore,  it  is  right  for 
them  to  be  governed  by  the  authority  of  a  guardian, 
seems  rather  specious  than  true.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  women  of  mature  age  do  manage  their 
own  affairs,  and  in  certain  cases  the  guardian 
interposes  his  authority  as  a  mere  formality; 
frequently,  indeed,  he  is  forced  by  the  supreme 
judge  to  lend  his  authority  against  his  will.'* 
Ulpian,  too,  hints  at  the  really  slight  power  of  the 
guardian  in  his  day,  that  is,  the  first  three  decades 
of  the  third  century.  "In  the  case  of  male  and 
female  wards  under  age,  the  guardians  both 
manage  their  affairs  and  interpose  their  authority ; 
but  in  the  case  of  mature  women  they  merely 
interpose  their  authority."  ^  The  woman  had,  in 
practice,  become  free  to  manage  her  property  as 
she  wished;  the  function  of  the  legal  guardian 
was  simply  to  see  to  it  that  no  one  should  attempt 
a  fraud  against  her.  Adequately  to  observe  the 
decay  of  the  vassalage  of  women,  we  must  in- 
vestigate the  story  of  their  rights  in  all  its  forms; 
and  the  position  of  women  in  marriage  will  next 
occupy  our  attention. 

As  in  all  Southern  countries  where  women 
mature  early,  the  Roman  girl  usually  married 

»  Ulpian,  Tit.  xi,  25.  Cf.  Frag,  iur  Rom.  Vatic.  (Huschke, 
325):  Divi  Diocletianus  et  Constantius  Aureliae  Pontiae:  Actor 
rei  forum  sequi  debet  et  mulier  quoque  facere  procuratorem 
sine  tutoris  auctoritate  non  prohibetur.  So  Papinian,  lib.  xv, 
Responsorum  (Huschke,  327).  I  shall  discuss  these  matters 
at  greater  length  when  I  treat  of  women  and  the  management  of 
their  property. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  9 

young;  twelve  years  were  required  by  custom 
for  her  to  reach  the  marriageable  age.  ^  In  the 
earlier  period  a  woman  was  acquired  women  and 
as  wife  in  three  different  ways:  I.  By  manage. 
coemptio — a  mock  sale  to  her  husband^;  II.  By 
confarreatio — a  solemn  marriage  with  peculiar 
sacred  rites  to  qualify  men  and  women  and  their 
children  for  certain  priesthoods^;  III.  By  usus^ 
or  acquisition  by  prescription.  A  woman  became 
a  man's  legal  wife  by  usus  if  he  had  lived  with 
her  one  full  year  and  if,  during  that  time,  she  had 
not  been  absent  from  him  for  more  than  three 
successive  nights.  ^ 

All  these  forms,  however,  had  either  been 
abolished  by  law  or  had  fallen  into  desuetude 
during  the  second  century  of  our  era,  as  is  evident 
from  Gaius.^  A  man  could  marry  even  if  not 
present  personally;  a  woman  could  not.^  The 
woman*s  parents  or  guardians  were  accustomed 
to  arrange  a  match  for  her,^  as  they  still  do  in 
many  parts  of  Europe.     Yet  the  power  of  the 

'  Dio,  54,  16.     Pomponius  in  Dig.,  23,  2,  4. 
^Gaius,  i,  113. 

3  Ulpian,  Tit.,  ix,  i:  Farreo  convenit  uxor  in  manum  certis 
verbis  et  testibus  X  praesentibus  et  soUemni  sacrificio  facto,  in 
quo  panis  quoque  farreus  adhibetur.     Cf.  Gaius,  i,  112. 

4  Aulus  Gellius,  iii,  2,  12.    Gaius,  i,  iii. 
s  Gaius,  i,  no  and  in. 

^  Paulus,  ii,  xix,  8. 

7  Pliny,  Letters,  i,  14,  will  furnish  an  example;  cf.  id.  vi,  26,  to 
Servianus:  Gaudeo  et  gratulor,  quod  Fusco  Salinatori  filiam 
tuam  destinasti.  Note  the  way  in  which  Julius  Caesar  arranged 
a  match  for  his  daughter — Suetonius,  Divus  Julius,  21. 


10        History  of  Women's  Rights 

father  to  coerce  his  daughter  was  limited.  Her 
consent  was  important.  "A  marriage  cannot 
exist,"  remarks  Paulus,  "unless  all  parties  con- 
sent.**' Julianus  writes  also  that  the  daughter 
must  give  her  permission  %•  yet  the  statement 
of  Ulpian  which  immediately  follows  in  the 
Digest  shows  that  she  had  not  complete  free  will 
in  the  matter:  "It  is  understood  that  she  who 
does  not  oppose  the  wishes  of  her  father  gives 
consent.  But  a  daughter  is  allowed  to  object 
only  in  case  her  father  chooses  for  her  a  man  of 
im worthy  or  disgraceful  character."  ^  The  son 
had  an  advantage  here,  because  he  could  never 
be  forced  into  a  marriage  against  his  will.  ^  The 
consent  of  the  father  was  always  necessary  for  a 
valid  marriage,  s  He  could  not  by  will  compel 
his  daughter  to  marry  a  certain  person.^  After 
she  was  married,  he  still  retained  power  over  her, 
unless  she  became  independent  by  the  birth  of 
three  children;  but  this  was  largely  to  protect  her 
and  represent  her  in  court  against  her  husband  if 
necessity  should  arise.  ^     A  father  was  not  per- 

*  Paulus  in  Dig.,  23,  2,  2:  Nuptiae  consistere  non  possunt, 
nisi  consentiunt  omnes,  id  est,  qui  coeunt  quorumque  in  potestate 
sunt. 

» Julianus  in  Dig.,  23,  i,  11. 
3  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  23,  i,  12. 

*  Paulus  in  Dig.,  23,  i,  13.  Terentius  Clemens  in  Dig.,  23, 
2,21. 

»  Paulus,  ii,  19,  2. 

*  Ulpian,  24,  17. 

'  Cf.  Ulpian,  Tit.,  vi,  6:  Divortio  facto,  si  quidem  sui  iuris  sit 
mulier,  ipsa  habet  rei  uxoriae  actionem,  id  est,  dotis  repetitionem; 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  ii 

mitted  to  break  up  a  harmonious^  marriage; 
he  could  not  get  back  his  daughter's  dowry  with- 
out her  consent,  ^  nor  force  her  to  return  to  her 
husband  after  a  divorce  ^i  and  he  was  punished 
with  loss  of  citizenship  if  he  made  a  match  for  a 
widowed  daughter  before  the  legal  time  of  mourn- 
ing for  her  husband  had  expired.  "*  A  daughter 
passed  completely  out  of  the  power  of  her  father 
only  if  she  became  sui  iuris  by  the  birth  of  three 
children  or  if  she  became  a  Vestal,  or  again  if  she 
married  a  special  priest  of  Jupiter  (Flamen  Dialis), 
in  which  case,  however,  she  passed  completely 
into  the  power  of  her  husband.  Under  all  cir- 
cumstances a  daughter  must  not  only  show  respect 
for  her  father,  but  also  furnish  him  with  the 
necessaries  of  life  if  he  needed  them.  ^ 

Under  the  Empire  no  such  thing  as  a  "breach 
of  promise"  suit  was  permitted,  although  in  the 


quodsi  in  potestate  patris  sit,  pater  adiuncta  filiae  persona  habet 
actionem. 

The  technical  recognition  of  the  father's  power  was  still  strong. 
Cf.  Pliny,  Panegyricus,  38:  Tu  quidem,  Caesar  .  .  .  intui- 
tus,  opinor,  vim  legemque  naturae,  quae  semper  in  dicione  paren- 
tum  esse  liberos  iussit.  The  same  writer,  on  requesting  Trajan 
to  give  citizenship  to  the  children  of  a  certain  freedman,  is  care- 
ful to  add  the  specification  that  they  are  to  remain  in  their  fath- 
er's power — see  Pliny  to  Trajan,  xi  (vi). 

^  Paulus,  vi,  15.     Codex,  v,  4,  11,  and  17,  5. 

*  Paulus,  in  Dig.,  23,  3,  28.     Codex,  v,  13,  i,  and  18,  i. 
3  Codex,  V,  17,  5. 

*  Salvius  Julianus:  Frag.  Perp.  Ed.:  Pars  Prima,  vii — under 
"De  is  qui  notantur  infamia." 

5  Codex,  8,  46  (47),  5. 


12        History  of  Women's  Rights 

days  of  the  Republic  the  party  who  broke  a  pro- 
mise to  marry  had  been  liable  to  a  suit  for  dam- 
-  Breach  of  ages.^  But  this  had  now  disappeared, 
Promise."      ^^^   ^.^j^^j.  ^^^^y,  ^^^j^  hresk  off  the 

betrothal  at  pleasure  without  prejudice.^  What- 
ever gifts  had  been  given  might  be  demanded 
back.^  The  engagement  had  to  be  formally 
broken  off  before  either  party  could  enter  into  mar- 
riage or  betrothal  with  another ;  otherwise  he  or  she 
lost  civil  status.  4  While  an  engagement  lasted, 
the  man  could  bring  an  action  for  damages  against 
any  one  who  insulted  or  injured  his  fiancee.  ^ 

The  Roman  marriage  was  a  purely  civil  con- 
tract based  on  consent.^  The  definition  given  by 
Husband  and  ^hc  law  was  a  noblc  one.  "Marriage  is 
w"«-  the  union  of  a  man  and  a  woman  and 

a  partnership  of  all  life;  a  mutual  sharing  of  laws 
human  and  divine."  ^  The  power  of  the  husband 
over  the  wife  was  called  manus;  and  the  wife 
stood  in  the  same  position  as  a  daughter.^  No 
husband  was  allowed  to  have  a  concubine.'^  He 
was  boimd  to  support  his  wife  adequately,  look 

»  Aulus  Gellius,  iv,  4. 

» Juvenal,  vi,  200-203.    Gaius  in  Dig.,  24,  2,  2.    Ulpian,  ibid., 
23,  I,  10.     Codex,  V,  17,  2,  and  v,  i,  i. 
3  Codex,  V,  3,  2. 

*  Dig.,  3,  2,  I. 

*  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  47,  10,  24. 

6  Cf.  Alexander  Severas  in  Codex,  viii,  38, 2:  Liberamatrimonia 
esse  antiquitus  placuit,  etc.     Also  Codex,  v,  4,  8  and  14. 

7  Modestinus  in  Dig.,  xxiii,  2,1. 
•Gaius,  ii,  159. 

9  Paulus,  ii,  XX,  i. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  13 

out  for  her  interests,  ^  and  strictly  to  avenge 
any  insult  or  injury  offered  her%-  any  abusive 
treatment  of  the  wife  by  the  husband  was  pun- 
ished by  an  action  for  damages.  ^  A  wife  was 
compelled  by  law  to  go  into  solemn  mourning 
for  a  space  of  ten  months  upon  the  death  of  a 
husband.  4  During  the  period  of  mourning  she 
was  to  abstain  from  social  banquets,  jewels,  and 
crimson  and  white  garments.  ^  If  she  did  not  do 
so,  she  lost  civil  status.  The  emperor  Gordian, 
in  the  year  238,  remitted  these  laws  so  far  as 
solemn  clothing  and  other  external  signs  of 
mourning  above  enumerated  were  concerned.  ^ 
But  a  husband  was  not  compelled  to  do  any  legal 
mourning  for  the  death  of  his  wife.  ^ 

The  wife  was,  as  I  have  said,  in  the  power  of 
her  husband.  Originally,  no  doubt,  this  power 
was  absolute ;  the  husband  could  even  put  his  wife 
to  death  without  a  public  trial.  But  the  world 
was  progressing,  and  that  during  the  first  three 
centuries  after  Christ  the  power  of  the  husband 
was  reduced  in  practice  to  absolute  nullity  I  shall 

*  Note  the  rescript  of  Alexander  Severus  to  a  certain  Aquila 
(Codex,  ii,  i8,  13) :  Quod  in  uxorem  tuam  aegram  erogasti,  non  a 
socero  repetere,  sed  adfectioni  tuae  debes  expendere. 

« See,  e.g.,  Dig.,  47,  10,  and  Ulpian,  ibid.,  48,  14,  27. 

3  Cf.  Gaius,  i,  141 :  In  summa  admonendi  sumus,  adversus  eos, 
quos  in  mancipio  habemus,  nihil  nobis  contumeliose  facere  licere; 
alioquin  iniuriarum  (actione)  tenebimur. 

4Paulus,  i,  21,  13. 

sPaulus,  i,  21,  14. 

6  Codex,  ii,  11,  15. 

1  Paulus  in  Dig.,  iii,  2,  9. 


14        History  of  Women's  Rights 

make  clear  in  the  following  pages.  I  shall, 
accordingly,  first  investigate  the  rights  of  the  wife 
over  her  dowry,  that  is,  the  right  of  managing  her 
own  property. 

Even  from  earUest  times  it  is  clear  that  the 
wife  had  complete  control  of  her  dowry.  The 
henpecked  husband  who  is  afraid  of  offending  his 
wealthy  wife  is  a  not  uncommon  figure  in  the 
comedies  of  Plautus  and  Terence;  and  Cato  the 
Censor  growled  in  his  usual  amiable  manner  at 
the  fact  that  wives  even  in  his  day  controlled  com- 
pletely their  own  property.  ^  The  attitude  of  the 
Roman  law  on  the  subject  is  clearly  expressed. 
"It  is  for  the  good  of  the  state  that  women  have 
their  dowries  inviolate."  ^  "The  dowry  is  always 
and  everywhere  a  chief  concern;  for  it  is  for  the 
public  good  that  dowries  be  retained  for  women, 
since  it  is  highly  necessary  that  they  be  dowered 
in  order  to  bring  forth  offspring  and  replenish  the 
state  with  children. "  ^  "  It  is  just  that  the  income 
of  the  dowry  belong  to  the  husband;  for  inas- 
much as  it  is  he  who  stands  the  burdens  of  the 
married  state,  it  is  fair  that  he  also  acquire  the 
interest. "4     "Nevertheless,    the    dowry    belongs 

*  Aulus  Gellius,  xvii,  6,  speech  of  Cato:  Principio  vobis  mulier 
magnam  dotem  adtulit;  turn  magnam  pecuniam  recipit,  quam.in 
viri  potestatem  non  committit,  earn  pecuniam  viro  mutuam  dat; 
postea,  ubi  irata  facta  est,  servum  recepticum  sectari  atque 
flagitare  virum  iubet. 

*  Paulus  in  Dig.,  23,  3,  2. 

3  Pomponius  in  Dig.,  24,  3,  i. 

*  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  23,  3,  7. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  15 

to  the  woman,  even  though  it  is  in  the  goods  of  the 
husband."^  "A  husband  is  not  permitted  to 
alienate  his  wife's  estate  against  her  will."  ^  A 
wife  could  use  her  dowry  during  marriage  to 
support  herself,  if  necessary,  or  her  kindred, 
to  buy  a  suitable  estate,  to  help  an  exiled  parent, 
or  to  assist  a  needy  husband,  brother,  or  sister. 
The  numerous  accounts  in  various  authors  of 
the  first  three  centuries  after  Christ  confirm 
the  statement  that  the  woman's  power  over 
her  dowry  was  absolute.  ^  Then  as  now,  a  man 
might  put  his  property  in  his  wife's  name  to 
escape  his  creditors,  "• — a  useless  proceeding,  if 
she  had  not  had  complete  control  of  her  own 
property. 

When  the  woman  died,  her  dowry,  if  it  had  been 
given  by  the  father  {dos  profecticia)  returned  to  the 
latter;  but  if  any  one  else  had  given  it  {dos  adven- 
ticia),  the  dowry  remained  with  the  husband,  unless 
the  donor  had  expressly  stipulated  that  it  was 
to  be  returned  to  himself  at  the  woman's  death 
{dos  recepticia).^  In  the  case  of  a  dowry  of  the 
first  kind,  the  husband  might  retain  what  he  had 

I  Tryfoninus  in  Dig.,  23,  3,  75. 

^  Gains,  ii,  63.     Paulus,  ii,  216. 

3  E.g.  Juvenal,  vi,  136-141.     Martial,  viii,  12, 

^Apuleius  Apologia,  523:  Pleraque  tamen  rei  familiaris  in 
nomen  uxoris  callidissima  fraude  confert,  etc. ;  id.,  545,  546  proves 
further  the  power  of  the  wife:  ea  condicione  factam  coniunc- 
tionem,  si  nullis  a  me  susceptis  liberis  vita  demigrasset,  ut  dos 
omnis,  etc. — evidently  the  woman  was  dictating  the  jiisposal 
of  her  dowry. 

5  Ulpian,  Tit.,  vi,  3,  4,  and  5.     Codex,  v,  18,  4. 


1 6        History  of  Women's  Rights 

expended  for  his  wife's  funeral.  ^  The  dowry  was 
confiscated  to  the  state  if  the  woman  was  convicted 
of  l^e  majeste,  violence  against  the  state,  or 
murder.  =*  If  she  suffered  punishment  involving 
loss  of  civil  status  under  any  other  law  which  did 
not  assess  the  penalty  of  confiscation,  the  husband 
acquired  the  dowry  just  as  if  she  were  dead. 
Banishment  operated  as  no  impediment;  if  the 
woman  wished  to  leave  her  husband  under  these 
circumstances,  her  father  could  recover  the  dowry.  ^ 
A  further  confirmation  of  the  power  of  the  wife 
over  her  property  is  the  law  that  prohibited  gifts 
between  husband  and  wife;  obviously,  a  woman 
could  not  be  said  to  have  the  power  of  making 
a  gift  if  she  had  no  right  of  property  of  her  own. 
The  object  of  the  law  mentioned  was  to  prevent 
the  husband  and  wife  from  receiving  any  lasting 
damage  to  his  or  her  property  by  giving  of  it 
under  the  impulse  of  conjugal  affection.  ^  This 
statute  acted  powerfully  to  prevent  a  husband 
from  wheedling  a  wife  out  of  her  goods ;  and  in  case 
the  latter  happened  to  be  of  a  grasping  disposition 
the  law  was  a  protection  to  the  husband  and 
hence  to  the  children,  his  heirs,  for  whose  interests 
the  Roman  law  constantly  provided. 

'  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  xi,  7,  16;  ibid.,  Papinian,  17;  ibid.,  Julianus, 
18.     Paulus,  i,  xxi,  11. 

'  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  48,  20,  3. 

3  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  48,  20,  5. 

4  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  24  i,  i:  Moribus  apud  nos  receptum~est, 
ne  inter  virum  et  uxorem  donationes  valerent.  hoc  autem  re- 
ceptum  est,  ne  mutuo  amore  invicem  spoliarentur,  donationibus 
non  temperantes,  sed  profusa  erga  se  facilitate. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  17 

Gifts  between  husband  and  wife  were  never- 
theless valid  under  certain  conditions.  It  was 
permissible  to  make  a  present  of  clothing  and  to 
bestow  various  tokens  of  affection,  such  as  orna- 
ments. The  husband  could  present  his  wife  with 
enough  money  to  rebuild  a  house  of  hers  which 
had  burned.^  The  Emperor  Marcus  Aurelius 
permitted  a  wife  to  give  her  husband  the  sum 
necessary  to  obtain  public  office  or  to  become  a 
senator  or  knight  or  to  give  public  games.  =*  A 
gift  was  also  legal  if  made  by  the  husband  in 
apprehension  that  death  might  soon  overtake 
him;  if,  for  instance,  he  was  very  sick  or  was 
setting  out  to  war,  or  to  exile,  or  on  a  dangerous 
journey.  ^  The  point  in  all  gifts  was,  that  neither 
party  should  become  richer  by  the    donation.  ^ 

Some  further  considerations  of  the  relation  of 
husband  and  wife  will  aid  in  setting  forth  the 
high  opinion  which  Roman  law  entertained  of 
marriage  and  its  constant  effort  to  protect  the 
wife  as  much  as  possible.  A  wife  could  not  be 
held  in  a  criminal  action  if  she  committed  theft 
against  her  husband.  The  various  statements 
of  the  jurists  make  the  matter  clear.  Thus 
Paulus^:  "A  special  action  for  the  recovery  of 

^  Paulus  in  Dig.,  24,  i,  14. 

»  Gaius  in  Dig.,  24,  i,  42;  ibid.,  Licinius  Rufus,  41 ;  Ulpian,  Tit. 
vii,  I.  Martial,  vii,  64 — et  post  hoc  dominae  munere  f actus 
eques. 

3  Paulus,  ii,  xxiii,  i. 

4  Cf.  Paulus,  ii,  xxiii,  2. 

s  Paulus  in  Dig.,  25,  2,  i.     Codex,  v,  21,  2. 
a 


i8        History  of  Women's  Rights 

property  removed  [rerum  amotarum  iiidicium]  has 
been  introduced  against  her  who  was  a  wife,  be- 
cause it  has  been  decided  that  it  is  not  possible 
to  bring  a  criminal  action  for  theft  against  her 
[quia  non  placuit  cum  ea  furti  agere  posse].  Some 
— as  Nerva  Cassius — think  she  cannot  even  com- 
mit theft,  on  the  ground  that  the  partnership  in 
life  made  her  mistress,  as  it  were.  Others — like 
Sabinus  and  Proculus — hold  that  the  wife  can 
commit  theft,  just  as  a  daughter  may  against  her 
father,  but  that  there  can  be  no  criminal  action 
by  established  law."  "As  a  mark  of  respect 
to  the  married  state,  an  action  involving  disgrace 
for  the  wife  is  refused."  ^  "Therefore  she  will  be 
held  for  theft  if  she  touches  the  same  things  after 
being  divorced.  So,  too,  if  her  slave  commits 
theft,  we  can  sue  her  on  the  charge.  But  it  is 
possible  to  bring  an  action  for  theft  even  against 
a  wife,  if  she  has  stolen  from  him  whose  heirs  we 
are  or  before  she  married  us;  nevertheless,  as  a 
mark  of  respect  we  say  that  in  each  case  a  formal 
claim  for  restitution  alone  is  admissible,  but  not 
an  action  for  theft. "^  "If  any  one  lends  help  or 
advice  to  a  wife  who  is  filching  the  property  of 
her  husband,  he  shall  be  held  for  theft.  If  he 
commits  theft  with  her,  he  shall  be  held  for  theft, 
although  the  woman  herself  is  not  held."^ 

'  Gaius  in  Dig.,  25,  2,  2. 

2  Paulus  in  Dig.,  25,  2,  3. 

3  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  47,  2,  52.  The  respect  shown  for  family 
relations  may  be  seen  also  from  the  fact  that  a  son  could  com- 
plain— de  facto  matris  queri — if  he  believed  that  his  mother  had 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  19 

A  husband  who  did  not  avenge  the  murder  of 
his  wife  lost  all  claims  to  her  dowry,  which  was 
then  confiscated  to  the  state;  this  by  order  of  the 
Emperor  Severus.^ 

The  laws  on  adultery  are  rather  more  lenient  to 
the  woman  than  to  the  man.  In  the  first  place, 
the  Roman  law  insisted  that  it  was  unfair  for  a 
husband  to  demand  chastity  on  the  part  of  his 
wife  if  he  himself  was  guilty  of  infidelity  or  did  not 
set  her  an  example  of  good  conduct,^ — a  maxim 
which  present  day  lawyers  may  reflect  upon  with 
profit.     A  father  was  permitted  to  put  to  death 

brought  in  supposititious  offspring  to  defraud  him  of  some  of 
his  inheritance;  but  he  was  strictly  forbidden  to  bring  her  into 
court  with  a  public  and  criminal  action — Macer  in  Dig.,  48,  2, 
1 1 :  sed  ream  earn  lege  Cornelia  facere  permissum  ei  non  est. 

^  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  48,  14,  27. 

^Ulpian  in  Dig.,  48,  5,  14  (13):  ludex  adulterii  ante  oculos 
habere  debet  et  inquirere,  an  maritus  pudice  vivens  mulieri 
quoque  bonos  mores  colendi  auctor  fuerit.  periniquum  enim  videtur 
esse,  ut  pudicitiam  vir  ab  uxore  exigat,  quam  ipse  non  exhibeat. 
Cf.  Seneca,  Ep.,  94:  Scis  improbum  esse  qui  ab  uxore  pudicitiam 
exigit,  ipse  alienarum  corruptor  uxorum.  Scis  ut  illi  nil  cum 
adultero,  sic  nihil  tibi  esse  debere  cum  pellice.  Antoninus 
Pius  gave  a  husband  a  bill  for  adultery  against  his  wife  "Pro- 
vided it  is  established  that  by  your  life  you  give  her  an  ex- 
ample of  fidelity.  It  would  be  unjust  that  a  husband  should 
demand  a  fidelity  which  he  does  not  himself  keep" — quoted  by  St. 
Augustine,  de  Conj.  Adult.,  ii,  ch.  8.  In  view  of  these  explicit 
statements  it  is  difficult  to  see  what  the  Church  Father  Lactantius 
meant  by  asserting  {de  Vero  Cultu,  23) :  Non  enim,  sicut  iuris  pub- 
lici  ratio  est,  sola  mulier  adultera  est,  quae  habet  alium;  maritus 
autem,  etiamsi  plures  habeat,  a  crimine  adulterii  solutus  est. 
Perhaps  this  deliberate  distortion  of  the  truth  was  another  one 
of  the  libels  against  pagan  Rome  of  which  the  pious  Fathers  are 
so  fond  "for  the  good  of  the  Church." 


20r        History  of  Women's  Rights 

his  daughter  and  her  paramour  if  she  was  still  in 
his  power  and  if  he  caught  her  in  the  act  at  his 
own  house  or  that  of  his  son-in-law ;  otherwise  he 
could  not.  ^  He  must,  however,  put  both  man  and 
woman  to  death  at  once,  when  caught  in  the  act; 
to  reserve  punishment  to  a  later  date  was  unlawful. 
The  husband  was  not  permitted  to  kill  his  wife; 
he  might  kill  her  paramour  if  the  latter  was  a  man 
of  low  estate,  such  as  an  actor,  slave,  or  freed- 
man,  or  had  been  convicted  on  some  crim- 
inal charge  involving  loss  of  citizenship.^  The 
reason  that  the  father  was  given  the  power 
which  was  denied  the  husband  was  that  the 
latter's  resentment  would  be  more  likely  to  blind 
his  power  of  judging  dispassionately  the  merits 
of  the  case.  3  If  now  the  husband  forgot  himself 
and  slew  his  wife,  he  was  banished  for  life  if  of 
noble  birth,  and  condemned  to  perpetual  hard 
labour  if  of  more  humble  rank.^  He  must  at  once 
divorce  a  wife  guilty  of  adultery;  otherwise  he 
was  punished  as  a  pander,  and  that  meant  loss 
of  citizenship,  s  Women  convicted  of  adultery 
were,  when  not  put  to  death,  punished  by  the 
loss  of  half  their  dowry,  a  third  part  of  their 
other  goods,  and  relegation  to  an  island;  guilty 

'  Papinian  in  Dig.,  48,  5,  21  (20) ;  ibid.,  Ulpian,  24  (23).   Paulus, 
ii,  xxvi. 

»  Macer  in  Dig.,  48,  5,  25  (24). 

3  Papinian  in  Dig.,  48,  5,  23  (22). 

4  Papinian  in  Dig.,  48,  5,  39  (38);  ibid.,  Marcianus,  48,  8,  i. 

s  Paulus,  ii,  xxvi.     Macer  in  Dig.,  48,  5,  25  (24),  ibid.,  Ulpian, 
48,  5.  30  (29). 


Rights  under  Roman  Law         21 

men  suffered  the  loss  of  half  of  their  possessions 
and  similar  relegation  to  an  island ;  but  the  guilty 
parties  were  never  confined  in  the  same  place.  ^ 
We  have  mention  also  in  several  writers  of  some 
curious  and  vicious  punishments  that  might  be 
inflicted  on  men  guilty  of  adultery.  =^ 

Now,  all  this  seems  rigorous  enough;  but,  as  I 
have  already  remarked,  we  must  beware  of  im- 
agining that  a  statute  is  enforced  simply  because 
it  stands  in  the  code.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  public 
sentiment  had  grown  so  humane  in  the  first  three 
centuries  after  Christ  that  it  did  not  for  a  moment 
tolerate  that  a  father  should  kill  his  daughter, 
no  matter  how  guilty  she  was;  and  in  all  our 
records  of  that  period  no  instance  occurs.  As  to 
husbands,  we  have  repeated  complaints  in  the 
literature  of  the  day  that  they  had  grown  so 
complaisant  towards  erring  wives  that  they  could 
not  be  induced  to  prosecute  them.^  A  typical  in- 
stance is  related  by  Pliny.  ^  Pliny  was  summoned 
by  the  Emperor  Trajan  to  attend  a  council  where, 
among  other  cases,  that  of  a  certain  Gallitta  was 
discussed.  She  had  married  a  military  tribune 
and  had  committed  adultery  with  a  common 
captain  {centurio).    Trajan  sent  the  captain  into 

^  Paulus,  ii,  xxvi. 

» Juvenal,  x.  317  ;  quosdam  moechos  et  mugilis  intrat.  Cf. 
Catullus,  15,  19. 

3  See,  e.g.,  Capitolinus,  Anton.  Pius,  3.  Spartianus,  Sept. 
Severus,  18.  Pliny,  Panegyricus,  83:  multis  illustribus  dedecori 
fuit  aut  inconsultius  uxor  assumpta  aut  retenta  patientius,  etc. 

4  Pliny,  Letters,  vi,  31. 


22        History  of  Women's  Rights 

exile.  The  husband  took  no  measures  against 
his  wife,  but  went  on  Hving  with  her.  Only  by- 
coercion  was  he  finally  induced  to  prosecute. 
Pliny  informs  us  that  the  guilty  woman  had  to  be 
condemned,  even  against  the  will  of  her  accuser. 

A  woman  guilty  of  incest  received  no  punish- 
ment, but  the  guilty  man  was  deported  to  an 
island.*  If  the  incest  involved  adultery,  the 
woman  was  of  course  held  on  that  charge. 

We  come  now  to  a  matter  where  the  growing 

freedom  of  women  reached  its  highest  point — the 

matter  of  divorce.     Here  again  we  have 

Divorce.  ^ 

to  note  the  progress  of  toleration  and  hu- 
manitarianism.  In  the  early  days  of  the  Republic 
the  family  tie  was  rarely  severed.  Valerius  Maxi- 
mus  tells  us  ^  of  a  quaint  custom  of  the  olden  days, 
to  the  effect  that  "whenever  any  quarrel  arose 
between  husband  and  wife,  they  would  proceed 
to  the  chapel  of  the  goddess  Viriplaca  ["Reconciler 
of  Husbands"],  which  is  on  the  Palatine,  and 
there  they  would  mutually  express  their  feelings; 
then,  laying  aside  their  anger,  they  returned  home 
reconciled."  During  these  days  a  woman  could 
never  herself  take  the  initiative  in  divorce;  the 
husband  was  all-powerful.  The  first  divorce 
of  which  we  have  any  record  took  place  in  the 
year  231  B.C.,  when  Spurius  Carvilius  Ruga  put 
away  his  wife  for  sterility.  Public  opinion  cen- 
sured him  severely  for  it  "because  people  thought 

*  Paulus,  ii,  xxvi,  15. 

'  Valerius  Maximus,  ii,  I,  6. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  23 

that  not  even  the  desire  for  children  ought  to  have 
been  preferred  to  conjugal  fidelity  and  affection."  ' 
As  the  Empire  extended  and  Rome  became  more 
worldly  and  corrupt,  the  reasons  for  divorce  be- 
came more  trivial.  Sempronius  Sophus  divorced 
his  wife  because  she  had  attended  some  public 
games  without  his  knowledge.^  Cicero,  who 
was  a  lofty  moralist — on  paper, —  put  away  his 
wife  Terentia  in  order  to  marry  a  rich  young 
ward  and  get  her  money  if  he  could.  Maecenas, 
the  great  prime-minister  of  Augustus,  sent  away 
and  took  back  his  wife  repeatedly  at  caprice — 
perhaps  he  believed  that  variety  is  the  spice  of 
life.  But  during  all  this  time  the  husband  alone 
could  annul  marriage.-* 

Gradually,  however,  the  status  of  women  changed 
and  they  were  given  greater  and  greater  liberty. 
Inasmuch  as  Roman  marriage  was  a  civil  con- 
tract based  on  consent,  strict  justice  had  to  allow 
that  on  this  basis  either  party  to  the  contract 
might  annul  the  marriage  at  his  or  her  pleasure. 
The  result  was  that  during  the  first  three  centuries 
after  Christ  the  wife  had  absolute  freedom  to  take 
the  initiative  and  send  her  husband  a  divorce 
whenever  and  for  whatever  reason  she  wished. 

^  Aulus  Gellius,  xvii,  21,  44.  Valerius  Maximus,  ii,  i,  4. 
Plutarch,  Roman  Questions,  14. 

'  Valerius  Maximus,  vi,  3,  12. 

3  "If  you  should  catch  your  wife  in  adultery,  you  would  put 
her  to  death  with  impunity;  she,  on  her  part,  would  not  dare  to 
touch  you  with  her  finger;  and  it  is  not  right  that  she  should" — 
Speech  of  Cato  the  Censor,  quoted  by  Aulus  Gellius,  x,  23. 


24         History  of  Women's  Rights 

The  proof  of  this  fact  is  positively  established  not 
only  from  the  statements  of  the  jurists,  but  also 
from  numberless  accounts  in  the  other  writers  of 
the  day. »  Divorce  became,  at  least  among  the 
higher  strata  of  society,  extraordinarily  frequent. 
That  a  lady  of  the  Upper  Four  Hundred  should 
have  been  content  with  only  one  husband  was 
deemed  worthy  of  special  mention  on  her  tomb ;  the 
word  univira  (a  woman  of  one  husband)  may 
still  be  read  on  certain  inscriptions.  The  satirists 
are  fond  of  dwelling  on  the  license  allowed  to 
women  in  the  case  of  divorce.  Martial,  for  in- 
stance,* says  that  one  Theselina  married  ten  hus- 
bands in  one  month.  Still,  allowing  for  the  natural 
exaggeration  of  satirists,  we  are  yet  reasonably  sure 
that  divorce  had  reached  great  heights  in  the  upper 
classes.  Whether  it  was  as  bad  among  the  middle 
classes  is  very  improbable.  There  was  one  kind 
of  marriage  which,  originally  at  least,  did  not 
admit  of  dissolution.  ^  This  was  the  solemn 
marriage  by  confarreatto,  already  described,  which 

^  E.  g.,  Marcellus  in  Dig.,  24,  3,  38:  Maevia  Titio  repudium 
misit,  etc.;  ibid.,  Africanus,  24,  3,  34:  Titia  divortium  a  Seio 
fecit,  etc.  Martial,  x,  41 :  Mense  novo  lani  veterem,  Proculeia, 
maritum  Deseris,  atque  iubes  res  sibi  habere  suas.  Apuleius, 
Apologia,  547:  utramvis  habens  culpam  mulier,  quae  aut  tarn 
intolerabilis  fuit  ut  repudiaretur  aut  tarn  insolens  ut  repudiaret. 

Novellae,  140,  i:  Antiquitus  quidem  licebat  sine  periculo 
tales  [i.  e.,  those  of  incompatible  temperament]  ab  invicem 
separari  secundum  communem  voluntatem  et  consensum. 

*  Martial,  vi,  7. 

3  Aulus  Gellius,  x,  15:  Matrimonium  flaminis  nisi  morte  dirimi 
ius  non  est. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law         25 

qualified  the  husband  and  wife  for  the  special 
priesthood  of  Jupiter.  Women  soon  grew  to 
value  their  freedom  too  highly  to  enter  it;  as 
early  as  23  a.d.  the  Senate  had  to  relax  some  of  the 
rigour  of  the  old  laws  on  the  matter  as  a  special 
inducement  for  women  to  consent  to  enter  this 
union.  ^ 

We  may  now  observe  what  became  of  the  wife's 
property  after  divorce  and  what  her  rights  were 
under  such  circumstances.  If  it  was  the  husband 
who  had  taken  the  initiative  and  had  sent  his  wife 
a  divorce,  and  if  the  divorce  was  not  the  fault  of 
the  woman,  she  at  once  had  an  action  in  law  for 
complete  recovery  of  her  dowry;  on  her  own  re- 
sponsibility if  she  was  sui  iuris,  otherwise  with 
the  help  of  her  father.''  But  even  the  woman  still 
under  guardianship  could  act  by  herself  if  her 
father  was  too  sick  or  infirm  or  if  she  had  no  other 
agent  to  act  for  her.  ^  For  the  offence  of  adultery 
a  husband  had  to  pay  back  the  dowry  at  once; 
for  lesser  guilt  he  might  return  it  in  instalments 
at  intervals  of  six  months.  ^  If,  now,  the  divorce 
was  clearly  the  fault  of  the  woman,  her  husband 
could  retain  certain  parts  of  the  dowry  in  these 
proportions:  for  adultery,  a  sixth  part  for  each 
of  the  children  up  to  one  half  of  the  whole;  for 
lighter  offences,  an  eighth  part ;  if  the  husband  had 

'  Tacitus,  Annals,  iv,  i6. 

^Ulpian,  vi,  6;  id.  in  Dig.,  24,  3,  2.  Pauli  fragmentum  in 
Boethiixommentario  ad  Topica,  2,  4,  19. 

3  Paulus  in  Dig.  ii,  3,  41. 

4  Ulpian,  vi,  13. 


26        History  of  Women's  Rights 

gone  to  expense  or  had  inctirred  civil  obligations 
for  his  wife's  benefit  or  if  she  had  removed  any 
of  his  property,  he  could  recover  the  amount.' 

A  year  and  six  months  must  elapse  after  a 
divorce  before  the  woman  was  allowed  to  marry- 
again.  =*  If  at  the  time  of  the  divorce  she  was 
pregnant,  her  husband  was  obliged  to  support  her 
offspring,  provided  that  within  thirty  days  after 
the  separation  she  informed  him  of  her  condition.  ^ 
She  could  sue  her  former  husband  for  damages  if 
he  insulted  her.^  Whether  the  children  should 
stay  with  the  mother  or  father  was  left  to  the 
discretion  of  the  judge.  ^ 

The  married  woman  had,  as  I  have  shown, 
complete  disposal  of  her  own  property.  Let  us 
Property  sec  ncxt  what  rights  those  women  had 
JJidows  and    over  their  possessions  who  were  widows 

single  women,  or  SpinstcrS. 

Roman  Law  constantly  strove  to  protect  the 
children  and  laid  it  down  as  a  maxim  that  the 
property   of   their  parents   belonged   to    them.' 

*  Ulpian,  vi,  9-17,  and  vii,  2-3.  Pauli  frag,  in  Boethii  comm. 
ad  Top.,  ii,  4,  19. 

'  Ulpian,  xiv:  feminis  lex  lulia  a  morte  viri  anni  tribuit 
vacationem,  a  divortio  sex  mensum;  lex  autem  Papia  a  morte 
viri  biennii,  a  repudio  anni  et  sex  mensum. 

3  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  25,  3,  i.     Paulus,  ii,  xxiv,  5. 

*  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  25,  4,  8. 
s  Codex,  V,  24,  I. 

^  Codex,  vi,  60,  i :  Res,  quae  ex  matris  successione  fuerint  ad 
filios  devolutae,  ita  sint  in  parentum  potestate,  ut  fruendi 
dumtaxat  habeant  facultatem,  dominio  videlicet  earum  ad  liberos 
pertinente. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law         2^ 

A  widow  could  not  therefore,  except  by  special 
permission  from  the  emperor,^  be  the  legal 
guardian  of  her  children,  but  must  ask  the  court  to 
appoint  one  upon  the  death  of  her  husband.  * 
This  was  to  prevent  possible  mismanagement  and 
because  "to  undertake  the  legal  defence  of  others 
is  the  office  of  men."  ^  But  she  was  permitted  to 
asstmie  complete  charge  of  her  children's  property 
during  their  minority  and  enjoy  the  usufruct; 
only  she  must  render  an  account  of  the  goods 
when  the  children  arrived  at  maturity.'*  We 
have  many  instances  of  women  who  managed  their 
children's  patrimony  and  did  it  exceedingly  well. 
''You  managed  our  patrimony  in  such  wise,"  writes 
Seneca  to  his  mother, ^  ''that  you  exerted  yourself 
as  if  it  were  yours  and  yet  abstained  from  it  as  if 
it  belonged  to  others."^  Agricola,  father-in-law  of 
Tacitus,  had  such  confidence  in  his  wife's  business 
ability  that  he  made  her  co-heir  with  his  daughter 
and  the  Emperor  Domitian.^  A  mother  could 
get   an  injunction  to  restrain    extravagance  on 

'Neratius  in  Dig.,  26,  i,  18. 

» Codex,  V,  35,  I. 

3  Codex,  ii,  12,  18:  alienam  suscipere  defensionem  virile  offi- 
cium  est     .     .     .     filio  itaque  tuo,  si  pupillus  est,  tutorem  pete. 

"  Ulpian,  Tit.  viii,  7a.     Paulus,  i,  4,  4. 

s  ad  Helviam  matrem  de  consoL,  xiv,  3. 

^  Other  instances  of  women  trustees  will  be  found  in  Apuleius, 
Apologia  516;  Paulus  in  Dig.,  iii,  5,  23  (24):  avia  nepotis  sui 
negotia  gessit,  etc.;  ibid.,  Marcellus,  46,  3,  48:  Titia  cum 
propter  dotem  bona  mariti  possideret,  omnia  pro  domina  egit, 
reditus  exegit,  etc. 

7  Tacitus,  Agricola,  43. 


28         History  of  Women's  Rights 

the  part  of  her   children.^      Women  could  not 
adopt. ' 

i  Married  women,  spinsters,  and  widows  had  as 
much  freedom  as  men  in  disposing  of  property 
by  will.  If  there  were  children,  the  Roman  law 
put  certain  limitations  on  the  testator's  powers, 
whether  man  or  woman.  By  the  Falcidian  Law 
no  one  was  allowed  to  divert  more  than  three 
fourths  of  his  estate  from  his  (or  her)  natural 
heirs.  ^  But  for  any  adequate  cause  a  woman 
could  disinherit  her  children  completely;  and 
there  are  many  instances  of  this  extant  both  in  the 
Law  Books  and  in  the  literature  of  the  day.'* 
I  Single  women  had  grown  absolutely  unshackled 
and  even  their  guardians  had  become  a  mere 
formality,  as  the  words  of  Gaius,  already  quoted 
(page  8)  prove.  That  they  had  complete  dis- 
posal of  their  property  is  proved  furthermore 
by  the  numerous  complaints  in  Roman  authors 
about  the  sycophants  who  flattered  and  toadied  the 
wealthy  ladies  with  an  eye  to  being  remembered 
in  their  wills.  ^    For  it  is  evident  that  if  these 

^  Frag.  iur.  Rom.  Vat.,  282. 
» Ulpian,  viii,  7a. 

3  Gaius,  ii,  227.     Digest,  35,  2. 

4  E.g.  Pliny,  Letters,  w,  i.  Codex,  iii,  28,  19;  id.,  iii,  28,  28. 
Cf.  Codex,  iii,  29,  i,  and  29,  7;  and  Paulus  in  Dig.,  v,  2,  19.  Note 
the  extreme  anxiety  of  the  son  of  Prudentilla  about  her  money 
as  given  by  Apuleius,  Apologia,  517.  The  estate  of  a  mother 
who  died  intestate  went  to  her  children,  not  to  her  husband; 
the  latter  could  only  enjoy  the  interest  until  they  arrived  at 
maturity — Codex,  vi,  60,  i;  Modestinus  in  Dig.,  38,  17,  4. 

«  E.g.,  Juvenal,  iv,  18-21.     Pliny,  Letters,  ii,  20. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  29 

women  had  not  had  the  power  freely  to  dispose  of 
their  own  property,  there  would  have  been  no 
point  in  paying  them  such  assiduous  court.  The 
legal  age  of  maturity  was  now  twenty-five  for 
both  male  and  female. 

Women  engaged  freely  in  all  business  pursuits. 
We  find  them  in  all  kinds  of  retail  trade  and  com- 
merce,^ as  members  of  guilds,^  in  medi- 
cine,^ innkeeping,"*  in  vaudeville^;  there        gaged  in 
were  even  female  barbers^  and  chari-        business 

pursuits. 

oteers. '  Examples  of  women  who  toiled 
for  a  living  with  their  own  hands  are  indeed  very 
old,  as  the  widow,  described  by  Homer,  who 
worked  for  a  scanty  wage  to  support  her  father- 
less children,  or  the  wreathmaker,  mentioned  by 
Aristophanes.^  But  such  was  the  case  only  with 
women  of  the  lower  classes ;  the  lady  of  high  birth 
acted  through  her  agents.^ 

^  Digest,  xiv,  i  and  3  and  8 — on  the  actio  exercitoria  and  in- 
stitoria.  Cf.  Codex,  iv,  25, 4:  et  si  a  muliere  magister  navis  prae- 
positus  fuerit,  etc.  ^  CIL,  xiv,  326. 

3  Martial,  xi,  71.  Apuleius,  Metam.,  v,  10.  Soranus,  i,  i,  ch. 
I  and  2.     Galen,  vii,  414  (cf.  xiii,  341). 

"E.g.  Suetonius,  Nero,  27. 

sCarmina  Priapea,  18  and  27.  Ulpian,  xiii,  i.  The  Roman 
drama  had  now  degenerated  into  mere  vaudeville,  mostly  lasciv- 
ious dancing.  Senators  and  their  children  were  forbidden  to 
marry  any  woman  who  had  herself  or  whose  father  or  mother 
had  been  on  the  stage.  ^  Martial,  ii,  17,  i. 

7  Petronius,  Sat.,  45:  Titus  noster  .  .  .  habet  et  mulierem  es- 
sedariam.  This  would  not  be  strange,  when  we  reflect  that  under 
Domitian  noble  ladies  even  fought  in  the  arena. 

8  Thesmophoriazusae,  443-459. 

9  See  Cicero,  pro  Caecina,  5,  for  an  account  of  these  business 
agents  for  women. 


30     ^  History  of  Women's  Rights 

When  so  many  women  were  engaged  in  business, 
occasions  for  lawsuits  would  naturally  arise;  we 
The  right  of  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  what  power  the  woman 
women  to  had  to  suc.  It  was  a  standing  maxim 
of  the  law  that  a  woman  by  herself 
could  not  conduct  a  case  in  court.  ^  She  had  to 
act  through  her  agent,  if  she  was  independent, 
otherwise  through  her  guardian.  The  supreme 
judge  at  Rome  and  the  governor  in  a  province 
assigned  an  attorney  to  those  who  had  no  agent  or 
guardian.*  But  in  this  case  again  custom  and 
the  law  were  at  variance.  Various  considerations 
will  make  it  clear  that  women  who  sued  had,  in 
practice,  complete  disposal  of  the  matter.  I. — ^A 
woman  who  was  still  under  the  power  of  her  father 
must,  according  to  law,  sue  with  him  as  her  agent 
or  appoint  an  agent  to  act  with  him.  Neverthe- 
less, a  father  could  do  nothing  without  the  consent 
of  his  daughter.  3  Obviously,  then,  so  far  as  the 
power  of  the  father  was  concerned,  a  woman  had 
practically  the  management  of  her  suit.  II. — The 
husband  had  no  power.  If  he  tried  to  browbeat 
her  as  to  what  to  do,  she  could  send  him  a  divorce, 
a  privilege  which  she  had  at  her  beck  and  call, 

*  Paulus,  ii,  xi;  id.  in  Dig.,  i6,  i,  i;  Aulus  Gellius,  v,  19;  Pom- 
ponius  in  Dig.,  48,  2,  i :  non  est  permissum  mulieri  publico  iudicio 
quemquam  reum  facere. 

« Ulpian  in  Dig.,  i,  16,  9.  Salvius  Julianus,  Pars  Prima,  vi: 
si  non  habebunt  advocatum,  ego  dabo.  Alexander  Severus 
(222-235  A.D.)  gave  pensions  to  those  advocates  in  the  pro- 
vinces who  pleaded  free  of  charge — Lampridius,  Alex.  Severus,  44. 

3  Cf .  Paulus  in  Dig.,  23,  3,  28.  Codex,  v,  13,  i,  and  18,  i. 
Ulpian  in  Dig.,  iii,  3,  8. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  31 

as  we  have  seen;  and  then  she  could  force  him  to 
give  her  any  guardian  she  wanted.  ^  III . — That  the 
authority  of  other  guardians  was  in  practice  a 
mere  formality,  I  have  already  proved  (pp.  7  and  8) . 

From  these  considerations  it  is  clear  that  the 
woman's  wishes  were  supreme  in. the  conduct  of 
any  suit.  Moreover,  the  law  expressly  states  that 
women  may  appoint  whatever  attorneys  or  agents 
they  desire,  without  asking  the  consent  of  their 
legal  guardians  "'l  and  thus  they  were  at  liberty  to 
select  a  man  who  would  manage  things  as  they 
might  direct.  There  were  cases  where  even  the 
strict  letter  of  the  law  permitted  women  to  lay 
an  action  on  their  own  responsibility  alone:  if, 
when  a  suit  for  recovery  of  dowry  was  brought, 
the  father  was  absent  or  hindered  by  infirmities  3; 
if  the  woman  sued  or  was  sued  to  get  or  render  an 
account  of  property  managed  in  trust  "•;  to  avenge 
the  death  of  a  parent  or  children,  or  of  patron  or 
patroness  and  their  children  s;  to  lay  bare  any 
matter  pertaining  to  the  public  grain  supply^; 
and  to  disclose  cases  of  treason."^ 

We   read   of   many  cases  of  women  pleading 

'  Gains,  i,  137. 

*  Frag.  iur.  Rom.  Vat,,  325;  id.,  327  (from  Papinian):  mulieres 
quoque  et  sine  tutoris  auctoritate  procuratorem  facere  posse. 

3  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  iii,  3,  8;  ibid.,  Paulus,  iii,  3,  41. 

4  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  iii,  5,  3. 

s  Pomponius  in  Dig.,  48,  2,  i;  ibid.,  Papinian,  48,  2,  2 — who 
adds  that  she  could  also  do  so  in  a  case  regarding  the  will  of  a 
mother  or  father's  freedman. 

^  Marcianus  in  Dig.,  48,  2,  13. 

7  Papinian  in  Dig.,  48,  4,  8. 


32         History  of  Women's  .Rights 

publicly  and  bringing  suit.  Indeed,  according 
to  Juvenal — who  is,  however,  a  pessimist  by  pro- 
fession— the  ladies  found  legal  proceed- 
wom"n  p!ead- ings  SO  interesting  that  bringing  suit 
ing  in  public   became  a  passion  with  them  as  strong  as 

and  suing.  ^  ° 

it  had  once  been  among  the  Athenians. 
Thus  Juvenal ^•  "There  is  almost  no  case  in 
which  a  woman  would  n't  bring  suit.  Manilia 
prosecutes,  when  she  is  n't  a  defendant.  They 
draw  up  briefs  quite  by  themselves,  and  are  ready 
to  cite  principles  and  authorities  to  Celsus  [a 
celebrated  lawyer  of  that  time]."  Of  pleading  in 
public  one  of  the  celebrated  instances  was  that  of 
Hortensia,  daughter  of  the  great  orator  Quintus 
Hortensius,  Cicero's  rival.  On  an  occasion  when 
matrons  had  been  burdened  with  heavy  taxes  and 
none  [of  their  husbands  would  fight  the  measiu-e, 
Hortensia  pleaded  the  case  publicly  with  great 
success.  All  writers  speak  of  her  action  and  the 
eloquence  of  her  speech  with  great  admiration.^ 
We  hear  also  of  a  certain  Gaia  Afrania,  wife  of  a 
Senator;  she  always  conducted  her  case  herself 
before  the  supreme  judge,  "not  because  there  was 
any  lack  of  lawyers,"  adds  her  respectable  and 
scandalised  historian,^  "but  because  she  had  more 
than  enough  of  impudence." 

Quintilian   mentions   several   cases  of   women 

» Juvenal,  vi,  242-245. 

»  Valerius  Maximus,  viii,  3,  3.     Appian,  B.C.,  W,  32  ff.    Quin- 
tilian, i,  1,6. 

»  Valerius  Maximus,  viii,  3,  2. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  33 

being  sued  ^ ;  Pliny  tells  how  he  acted  as  attorney 
for  some^;  and  the  Law  Books  will  supply  any  one 
curious  in  the  matter  with  abundant  examples.  ^ 
A  quotation  from  Pliny  ^  will  give  an  idea  of  the 
kind  of  suit  a  woman  might  bring,  and  the  great  in- 
terest aroused  thereby:  "Attia  Viriola,  a  woman  of 
illustrious  birth  and  married  to  a  former  supreme 
judge,  was  disinherited  by  her  eighty-year-old 
father  within  eleven  days  after  he  had  brought 
Attia  a  stepmother.  Attia  was  trying  to  regain 
her  share  of  her  father's  estate.  One  hundred  and 
eighty  jurors  sat  in  judgment.  The  tribunal  was 
crowded,  and  from  the  higher  part  of  the  court 
both  men  and  women  strained  over  the  railings  in 
their  eagerness  to  hear  (which  was  difficult),  and 
to  see  (which  was  easy)." 

There  were  many  legal  qualifications  designed 
to  help  women  evade  the  strict  letter  of  the  law 
when  this,  if  enforced  absolutely,  would  partiality  of 
work  injustice.  Ignorance  of  the  law,  theiawto 
if  there  was  no  criminal  offence  involving  '^omen. 
good  morals,  was  particularly  accepted  in  the  case 
of  women  * '  on  account  of  the  weakness  of  the  sex. ' '  ^ 
A  typical  instance  of  the  growth  of  the  desire  to 
help  women,  protect  them  as  much  as  possible, 

»  Quintilian,  ix,  2,  20  and  34. 

»  E.g.,  Pliny,  Letters,  i,  5,  and  iv,  17. 

3  E.g.,  Huschke,  pp.  796,  797,  803,  807,  809,  810,  856,  857,  858. 
Or  instances  such  as  that  mentioned  in  Digest,  48,  2,  18,  where  a 
sister  brings  an  action  to  prove  her  brother's  will  a  forgery. 

4  Pliny,  Letters,  vi,  33. 

5  Paulus  in  Dig.,  22,  6,  9. 

3 


34         History  of  Women's  Rights 

and  stretch  the  laws  in  their  favour,  may  be  taken 
from  the  senatorial  decree  known  as  the  Senatus 
Consultum  Velleianum.'  This  was  an  order 
forbidding  f emales^to  become  siireties  or  defendants 
for  any  one  in  a  contract.  But  at  the  end  of  the 
first  century  of  our  era  the  Senate  voted  that  the 
law  be  emended  to  help  women  and  to  give  them 
special  privileges  in  every  class  of  contract.  "We 
must  praise  the  farsightedness  of  that  illustrious 
order,"  comments  the  great  jurist  Ulpian,*  "be- 
cause it  brought  aid  to  women  on  account  of  the 
weakness  of  the  sex,  exposed,  as  it  is,  to  many 
mishaps  of  this  sort." 

The  rights  of  women  to  inherit  under  Roman 
law  deserve  some  mention.  Here  again  we  may 
Rights  of  wo-  note  a  steady  growth  of  justice.  Some 
men  to  inherit,  ggj^gj.^2  cxamplcs  will  make  this  clearer, 
before  I  treat  of  the  specific  powers  of  inheritance. 
I. — In  the  year  169  B.C.  the  Tribune  Quintus 
Voconius  Saxa  had  a  law  passed  which  restricted 
greatly  the  rights  of  women  to  inherit .  ^  According 
to  Dio^  no  woman  was,  by  this  statute,  permitted 
to  receive  more  than  25,000  sesterces — 1250 
dollars.  In  the  second  century  after  Christ,  this 
law  had  fallen  into  complete  desuetude.  ^    II. — By 

^  Fully  treated  in  Dig.,  16,  i,  and  Paulus,  ii,  xi. 
"Ulpian  in  Dig.,  16,  i,  2. 

3  Aulus  Gellius,  xvii,  6.  St.  Augustine,  de  Civit.  Dei,  iii,  21: 
nam  tunc,  id  est  inter  secundum  et  postremum  bellum  Car- 
thaginiense,  lata  est  etiam  ilia  lex  Voconia,  ne  quis  heredem 
feminam  faceret,  nee  unicam  filiam. 

4  Dio,  56,  10. 

s  Aulus  Gellius,  xx,  i,  23.     According  to  Dio,  56,  10,  it  was 


Rights  under  Roman  Law         35 

the  Falcidian  Law,  passed  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  first  century  B.C.,  no  citizen  was  allowed  to 
divert  more  than  three  fourths  of  his  estate  from 
his  natural  heirs.'  The  Romans  felt  strongly 
against  any  man  who  disinherited  his  children 
without  very  good  reason;  the  will  of  such  a 
parent  was  called  inofficiosum,  "made  without 
a  proper  feeling  of  duty,"  and  the  disinherited 
children  had  an  action  at  law  to  recover  their 
proper  share.  ^  A  daughter  was  considered  a 
natural  heir  no  less  than  a  son  and  had  equal 
privileges  in  succession  3;  and  so  women  were 
bound  to  receive  some  inheritance  at  least.  III. — 
It  is  a  sad  commentary  on  Christian  rulers  that  for 
many  ages  they  allowed  the  crimes  of  the  father 
to  be  visited  upon  his  children  and  by  their  bills 
of  attainder  confiscated  to  the  state  the  goods 
of  condemned  offenders.  Now,  the  Roman  law 
stated  positively  that  ''the  crime  or  punishment 


Augustus  who  in  the  year  9  a.d.  gave  women  permission  to  in- 
herit any  amount. 

*  Fully  treated  in  Dig.,  35,  2.  Also  in  Gaius,  ii,  227,  and 
Paulus,  iii,  viii,  1-3,  and  iv,  3,  3,  and  5  and  6. 

» Paulus,  iv.  Tit.  v,  i.  Cases  in  which  "Complaints  of  Un- 
dutiful  Will"  were  the  issue  will  be  found,  e.g.,  in  Codex,  iii, 
28,  I  and  19  and  28;  id.,  iii,  29,  i  and  7. 

aUlpian  in  Dig.,  38,  16,  i:  suos  heredes  accipere  debemus 
filios  filias  sive  naturales  sive  adoptivos.  Instances  of  daughters 
being  left  heiresses  of  whole  estates  may  be  found,  e.g.,  in  Dig.,- 
28,  2,  19:  cum  quidam  filiam  ex  asse  heredem  scripsisset 
filioque,  quem  in  potestate  habebat,  decern  legasset,  etc.  Or 
the  example  mentioned  by  Scaevola  in  Dig.,  41,  9,  3:  Duae 
filiae  intestate  patri  heres  exstiterunt,  etc. 


36        History  of  Women's  Rights 

of  a  father  can  inflict  no  stigma  on  his  child. '  * '  So 
far  as  the  goods  of  the  father  were  concerned,  the 
property  of  three  kinds  of  criminals  escheated  to 
the  crown:  (i)  those  who  committed  smcide 
while  under  indictment  for  some  crime,  ^  (2) 
forgers,^  (3)  those  guilty  of  high  treason. '^  Yet 
it  seems  reasonable  to  doubt  whether  these  laws 
were  very  often  carried  out  strictly  to  the  letter. 
For  example,  the  law  did  indeed  hold  that  the 
estate  of  a  party  guilty  of  treason  was  confiscated 
to  the  state  ^;  but  even  here  it  was  expressly 
ordained  that  the  goods  of  the  condemned  man's 
freedmen  be  reserved  for  his  children.^  More- 
over, in  actual  practice  we  can  find  few  instances 
where  the  law  was  executed  in  its  literal  severity 
even  imder  the  worst  tyrants.  It  was  Julius 
Caesar  who  first  set  the  splendid  example  of 
allowing  to  the  children  of  his  dead  foes  full 
enjoyment    of    their    patrimonies.'     Succeeding 

^  Callistratus  in  Dig.,  48,  19,  26:  crimen  vel  poena  paterna 
nuUam  maculam  filio  infligere  potest,  namque  unusquisque  ex 
suo  admisso  sorti  subicitur  nee  alieni  criminis  successor  consti- 
tuitur;  idque  divi  fratres  Hierapolitanis  rescripserunt.  "No- 
thing is  more  unjust,"  writes  Seneca  (de  Ira,  ii,  34,  3),  "than 
that  any  one  should  become  the  heir  of  the  odiimi  excited  by  his 
father." 

=*  Paulus,  V,  xii,  i. 

3  Paulus,  V,  xii,  12. 

4Ulpian  in  Dig.,  48,  4,  11. 

sUlpian  in  Dig.,  48,  4,  11. 

^  Hermogenianus  in  Dig.,  48,  4,  9. 

7  Sulla  had  not  only  deprived  the  children  of  the  proscribed  of 
all  their  estates,  but  had  also  debarred  them  from  aspiring  to  any 
political  office — see  Velleius  Paterculus,  ii,  28. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law         37 

emperors  followed  the  precedent.^  Tyrants  like 
Tiberius  and  Nero,  strangely  enough,  in  a  majority 
of  cases  overruled  the  Senate  when  it  proposed 
to  confiscate  the  goods  of  those  condemned  for 
treason,  and  allowed  the  children  a  large  part 
or  all  of  the  paternal  estate.^  Hadrian  gave 
the  children  of  proscribed  offenders  the  twelfth 
part  of  their  father's  goods.  ^  Antoninus  Pius 
gave  them  all.'^  There  was  a  strong  public  feeling 
against  bills  of  attainder  and  this  sentiment  is 
voiced  by  all  writers  of  the  Empire.  The  law 
forbade  wives  to  suffer  any  loss  for  any  fault  of 
their  husbands.  ^ 

Since  we  have  now  noticed  that  women  could 
inherit  any  amount,  that  they  were  bound  to 
receive  something  under  their  fathers'  wills,  and 
that  the  guilt  of  their  kin  could  inflict  no  prejudice 
upon  them  in  the  way  of  bills  of  attainder  in- 
volving physical  injury  or  civil  status  and,  in 
practice,  little  loss  so  far  as  inheriting  property 

^  For  examples  of  the  clemency  of  Augustus  see  Suetonius, 
div.  Aug.,  33  and  51  and  67;  Seneca,  de  Ira,  iii,  23,  4  ff.,  and 
40,  2;  Velleius  Paterculus,  ii,  86,  87. 

*  For  Tiberius  see,  e.g.,  Tacitus,  Annals,  iv — case  of  Silius; 
id..  Annals,  iii,  17,  18 — case  of  Piso.  For  Nero,  note  Tacitus, 
Annals,  xiii,  43 — case  of  Publius  Suilius.  Clemency  of  Claudius 
mentioned  in  Dio,  60,  15,  16;  of  Vitellius  in  Tacitus,  Hist.,  ii,  62. 

3  Spartianus,  Had.,  18. 

4  Capitolinus,  Anton.  Pius,  7.  See  also  the  anecdote  of  Aure- 
lian  in  Vopiscus,  Aurelian,  23. 

5  Codex,  iv,  12,  2,  rescript  of  Diocletian:  ob  maritorum  culpam 
uxores  inquietari  leges  vetant.  proinde  rationalis  noster,  si  res 
quae  a  fisco  occupatae  sunt  dominii  tui  esse  probaveris,  ius 
publicum  sequetur. 


38         History  of  Women's  Rights 

was  concerned,  we  may  pass  to  a  contemplation  of 
the  specific  legal  rights  of  inheritance  of  women. 
If  women  were  to  be  disinherited,  it  was  siifficient 
to  mention  them  in  an  aggregate ;  but  males  must 
be  mentioned  specifically.'  If,  however,  they 
were  disinherited  in  an  aggregate  {inter  ceteros)y 
some  legacy  had  to  be  left  them  that  they  might 
not  seem  to  have  been  passed  over  through 
f orgetfulness.  ^  I  shall  not  concern  myself  par- 
ticularly with  testate  succession,  because  here 
obviously  the  will  of  the  testator  could  dispose 
as  he  wished,  except  in  so  far  as  he  was  limited 
by  the  Falcidian  Law.  The  matter  of  intestate 
succession  may  well  claim  our  attention;  for 
therein  we  shall  see  what  powers  of  inheritance 
were  given  the  female  sex.  The  general  principles 
are  explained  by  Gaius  (iii,  1-38);  and  these 
principles  followed,  in  the  main,  the  law  as  laid 
down  in  the  Twelve  Tables  (451  B.C.).  According 
to  these,  the  estates  of  those  who  died  intestate 
belonged  first  of  all  to  the  children  who  were  in 
the  power  of  the  deceased  at  the  time  of  his  death ; 
there  was  no  distinction  of  sex;  the  daughters 
were  entitled  to  precisely  the  same  amount  as 
the  sons.^  If  the  children  of  the  testator  had 
died,  the  grandson  or  granddaughter  through  the 
son  succeeded;    or  the  great-grandson  or  great- 

»  Gaius,  ii,  129  and  132. 

'  Gaius,  ii,  132. 

3  Codex,  iii,  36,  1 1 :  Inter  filios  ac  filias  bona  intestatorum 
parentium  pro  virilibus  portionibus  aequo  iure  dividi  oportere 
explorati  iuris  est. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  39 

granddaughter  through  the  grandson.  If  a  son 
and  a  daughter  were  alive,  as  well  as  grandsons 
and  granddaughters  through  the  son,  they  were 
all  equally  called  to  the  estate.  The  estate  was 
not  divided  per  capita,  but  among  families  as  a 
whole;  for  example,  if  of  two  sons  one  only  was 
alive,  but  the  other  had  left  children,  the  testator's 
surviving  son  received  one  half  of  the  patrimony 
and  his  grandchildren  through  his  other  son  the 
other  half,  to  be  divided  among  them  severally.  If, 
then,  there  were  six  grandchildren,  each  received 
one  twelfth  of  the  estate. 

Here  the  powers  of  women  to  inherit  stopped. 
Beyond  the  tie  of  consanguinitaSy  that  is,  that  of 
daughter  to  father,  or  granddaughter  through  a 
son  J  the  female  line  must  at  once  turn  aside,  and 
had  no  powers ;  the  estate  descended  to  the  agnatic 
that  is,  male  relatives  on  the  father's  side.  Hence 
a  mother  was  shut  out  by  a  brother  of  the  deceased 
or  by  that  brother's  children.  If  there  were  no 
agnatiy  the  goods  were  given  to  the  gentiles ,  male 
relatives  of  the  clan  bearing  the  same  name. 
In  fact,  under  this  regime  we  may  say  that  of  the 
female  line  the  daughter  alone  was  sure  of  in- 
heriting something. 

In  the  days  of  the  Empire  some  attempts  were 
made  to  be  more  just.  It  was  enacted^  that  all 
the  children  should  be  called  to  the  estate,  whether 
they  had  been  under  the  power  of  the  testator 
at  the  time  of  his  death  or  not ;  and  female  relatives 

*  Gaius,  iii,  25-31. 


40         History  of  Women's  Rights 

were  now  allowed  to  come  in  for  their  share  '*in 
the  third  degree,"  that  is,  if  there  was  neither  a 
child  or  an  agnate  surviving.  This  was  not 
much  of  an  improvement;  and  the  principle  of 
agnate  succession  is  the  only  point  in  which 
Roman  law  failed  to  give  to  women  those 
equal  rights  which  it  allowed  them  in  other 
cases. 

There  is  no  point  on  which  Roman  law  laid 
more  stress  than  that  the  children,  both  male  and 
Protection  of  ^^^^1^»  wcrc  to  be  Constantly  protected 
property  of  and  must  rcccive  their  legal  share  of 
their  father's  or  mother's  goods.  After  a 
husband's  divorce  or  death  his  wife  could,  indeed, 
enjoy  possession  of  the  property  and  the  usufruct; 
but  the  principal  had  to  be  conserved  intact  for 
the  children  until  they  arrived  at  maturity.  In 
the  same  way  a  father  was  obliged  to  keep  un- 
touched for  the  children  whatever  had  been  left 
them  by  the  mother  on  her  decease  ^ ;  and  he  must 
also  leave  them  that  part,  at  least,  of  his  own 
property  prescribed  by  the  Falcidian  Law.  A 
case — and  it  was  common  enough  in  real  life — 
such  as  that  described  by  Dickens  in  David 
Copperfield,  where,  by  the  English  law,  a  second 
husband  acquired  absolute  right  over  his  wife's 
property  and  shut  out  her  son,  would  have  been 

^  See,  e.g.,  Codex,  vi,  60,  i:  Res,  quae  ex  matris  successione 
fuerint  ad  filios  devolutae,  ita  sint  in  parentum  potestate,  ut 
fruendi  dumtaxat  habeant  facultatem,  dominio  videlicet  eorum 
ad  liberos  pertinente. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  41 

impossible  under  Roman  law.  Neither  husband 
nor  wife  could  succeed  to  one  another's  intestate 
estate  absolutely  unless  there  were  no  children, 
parents,  or  other  relatives  living.^ 

Rape  of  a  woman  was  punished  by  death; 
accessories  to  the  crime  merited  the  same  penalty.^ 
Indecent  exposure  before  a  virgin  met  _    . , 

^  Punishment  of 

with  punishment  out  of  course.^  Kid- crimes  against 
napping  was  penalised  by  hard  labour  in  women, 
the  mines  or  by  crucifixion  in  the  case  of  those 
of  humble  birth,  and  by  confiscation  of  half  the 
goods  and  by  perpetual  exile  in  the  case  of  a 
noble. -♦  Temporary  exile  was  visited  upon  those 
guilty  of  abortion  themselves  5;  if  it  was  caused 
through  the  agency  of  another,  the  agent,  even 
though  he  or  she  did  so  without  evil  intent,  was 
punished  by  hard  labour  in  the  mines,  if  of  humble 
birth,  and  by  relegation  to  an  island  and  confisca- 
tion of  part  of  their  goods,  if  of  noble  rank.^     If 

«  For  all  this,  see  Codex,  v,  9,  5,  and  vi,  18,  i. 

'  Paulus,  V,  4,  14,  who  adds  that  exile  was  the  penalty  if  the 
crime  had  not  been  completely  carried  out.  It  would  seem  also 
that  ravished  women  had  the  option  of  deciding  whether  their 
seducers  should  marry  them  or  be  put  to  death — see  the  viti- 
atarum  elecUones  as  mentioned  by  Tacitus,  Dial,  de  Oral.,  35. 
According  to  Ruffus,  40,  a  soldier  who  did  violence  to  a  girl 
had  his  nostrils  cut  off,  besides  being  forced  to  give  the  injured 
woman  a  third  part  of  his  goods:  militi,  qui  puellae  vim  adtulerit 
et  stupraverit,  nares  abscinduntur,  data  puellae  tertia  militis 
facultatum  parte. 

3  Paulus,  v,  4,  21. 

<  By  the  lex  Fabia.    Paulus,  v,  30  B.    Digest,  48,  15;  17,  2,  51. 

s  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  48,  8,  8;  ibid.,  Tryphoninus,  48,  19,  39. 

«  Paulus,  v,  23,  14;  id.  in  Dig.,  48,  19,  38. 


42         History  of  Women's  Rights 

the  victim  died,  the  person  who  caused  the 
abortion  was  put  to  death.* 

The  rights  of  women  to  an  education  were  not 
questioned.  That  Sulpicia  could  pubHsh  amatory 
Rights  of  wo-  poenis  in  honour  of  her  husband  and 
men  to  an  receivc  culogics  from  writers  like  Mar- 
tial ^  shows  that  she  and  ladies  like  her 
occupied  somewhat  the  same  position  as  Olympia 
Morata  and  Tarquinia  Molza  later  in  Italy  during 
the  Renaissance,  or  like  some  of  the  celebrated 
Frenchwomen,  such  as  Madame  de  Stael.  Seneca 
addresses  a  Dialogue  on  Consolation  to  one  Marcia ; 
such  an  idea  would  have  made  the  hair  of  any 
Athenian  gentleman  in  the  time  of  Socrates  stand 
on  end.  Aspasia  was  obliged  to  be  a  courtesan  in 
order  to  become  educated  and  to  frequent  culti- 
vated society  3;  Sulpicia  was  a  noble  matron  in 
good  standing.  The  world  had  not  stood  still 
since  Socrates  had  requested  some  one  to  take 
Xanthippe  home,  lest  he  be  burdened  by  her 
sympathy  in  his  last  moments.  Pains  were  taken 
that  the  Roman  girl  of  wealth  should  have  special 
tutors.^  "Pompeius  Satuminus  recently  read  me 
some  letters,"  writes  Pliny  ^  to  one  of  his  corre- 

*  Paulus,  supra  cit. 

»  Martial,  x,  35,  and  x,  38. 

3  Sappho,  Telesilla,  and  Corinna  belong  to  an  earlier  period, 
when  the  Oriental  idea  of  seclusion  for  women  had  not  yet  be- 
come firmly  fixed  in  Greece.  Women  like  Agallis  of  Corcyra, 
who  wrote  on  grammar  (Athenaeus,  i,  25)  and  lived  in  a  much 
later  age,  doubtless  belonged  to  the  hetaerae  class. 

4  See,  e.g.,  Pliny,  Letters,  v,  16. 
« Pliny,  Letter s,  i,  16. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law         43 

spondents,  "which  he  insisted  had  been  written 
by  his  wife.  I  believed  that  Plautus  or  Terence 
was  being  read  in  prose.  Whether  they  are  really 
his  wife's,  as  he  maintains;  or  his  own,  which  he 
denies ;  he  deserves  equal  honour,  either  because  he 
composes  them,  or  because  he  has  made  his  wife, 
whom  he  married  when  a  mere  girl,  so  learned 
and  polished.'*  The  enthusiasm  of  the  ladies  for 
literature  is  attested  by  Persius.' 

According  to  Juvenal,  who,  as  an  orthodox 
satirist,  was  not  fond  of  the  weaker  sex,  women 
sometimes  became  over-educated.  He  growls 
as  follows*:  "That  woman  is  a  worse  nuisance 
than  usual  who,  as  soon  as  she  goes  to  bed,  praises 
Vergil;  makes  excuses  for  doomed  Dido;  pits  bards 
against  one  another  and  compares  them;  and 
weighs  Homer  and  Maro  in  the  balance.  Teachers 
of  literature  give  way,  professors  are  vanquished, 
the  whole  mob  is  hushed,  and  no  lawyer  or  auc- 
tioneer will  speak,  nor  any  other  woman."  The 
prospect  of  a  learned  wife  filled  the  orthodox 
Roman  with  peculiar  horror.  ^  No  Roman  woman 
ever  became  a  public  professor  as  did  Hypatia  or, 

'  Persius,  i,  4-5 :  Ne  mihi  Polydamas  et  Troiades  Labeonem 
praetulerint ?  "Are  you  afraid  that  Polydamas  and  the  Trojan 
Ladies  will  prefer  Labeo  to  me  ?  "  ^The  Trojan  Ladies,  of  course, 
stand  for  the  aristocratic  classes,  Colonial  Dames,  so  to  speak, 
who  were  fond  of  tracing  their  descent  back  to  Troy  just  as 
Americans  like  to  discover  that  their  ancestors  came  over  ir 
the  Mayflower. 

'  Juvenal,  vi,  434-440. 

3  Cf.  Martial,  ii,  90:  sit  mihi  vema  satur,  sit  non  doctissima 
coniunx. 


44         History  of  Women's  Rights 

ages  later,  Bitisia  Gozzadina,  who,  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  became  doctor  of  canon  and  civil  law  at 
the  University  of  Bologna. 

I  have  been  speaking  of  women  of  the  wealthier 
classes;  but  the  poor  were  not  neglected.  As  far 
back  as  the  time  of  the  Twelve  Tables — 450  B.C. 
— parents  of  moderate  means  were  accustomed  to 
club  together  and  hire  a  schoolroom  and  a  teacher 
who  would  instruct  the  children,  girls  no  less  than 
boys,  in  at  least  the  proverbial  three  R's.  Virginia 
was  on  her  way  to  such  a  school  when  she  en- 
coimtered  the  passionate  gaze  of  Appius  Claudius. 
Such  grammar  schools,  which  boys  and  girls 
attended  together,  flourished  under  the  Empire  as 
they  had  under  the  Republic'  They  were  not 
connected  with  the  state,  being  supported  by  the 
contributions  of  individual  parents.  To  the  end 
we  cannot  say  that  there  was  a  definite  scheme 
of  pubHc  education  for  girls  at  the  state's  expense 
as  there  was  for  boys.^  Still,  the  emperors  did 
something.  Trajan,  Hadrian,  Antoninus  Pius, 
Marcus  Aurelius,  and  Alexander  Severus,  for 
example,  regularly  supplied  girls  and  boys  with 

'  The  famous  verses  of  Martial: 

Quid  tibi  nobiscum,  ludi  scelerate  magister? 
Invisum  pueris  virginibusque  caput! 

"  Vespasian  (69-79  a.d.)  started  free  public  education  by  ap- 
pointing Quintilian  Professor  of  Rhetoric  subsidised  by  the  state. 
Succeeding  emperors  enlarged  upon  it;  but  especially  Alexander 
Severus  (222-235  a.d.),  who  instituted  salaries  for  teachers  of 
rhetoric,  literature,  medicine,  mechanics,  and  architecture  in 
Rome  and  the  provinces,  and  had  poor  boys  attend  the  lectures 
free  of  charge — see  Lampridius,  Alex.  Severus,  44. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law  45 

education  at  public  expense  %•  under  Trajan  there 
were  5000  children  so  honoured.  Public-spirited 
citizens  were  also  accustomed  to  contribute 
liberally  to  the  same  cause;  Pliny  on  one  occasion^ 
gave  the  equivalent  of  $25,000  for  the  support 
and  instruction  of  indigent  boys  and  girls. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  speak  briefly  of  the 
Vestal  Virgins,  the  six  priestesses  of  Vesta,  who  are 
the  only  instances  in  pagan  antiquity  of  ^^^ 
anything  like  the  nuns  of  the  Christians. 
The  Vestals  took  a  vow  of  perpetual  chastity.  ^ 
They  passed  completely  out  of  the  power  of  their 
parents  and  became  entirely  independent.  They 
could  not  receive  the  inheritance  of  any  person 
who  died  intestate,  and  no  one  could  become  heir 
to  a  Vestal  who  died  intestate.  They  were 
allowed  to  be  witnesses  in  court  in  public  trials, 
a  privilege  denied  other  women.  Peculiar  honour 
was  accorded  them  and  they  were  regularly 
appointed  the  custodians  of  the  wills  of  the 
emperors.  ^ 

The  position  of  women  in  slavery  merits  some 
attention,  in  view  of  the  huge  multitudes  that 

^  Pliny,  Paneg.,  26.  Spartianus,  Hadrian,  7,  8-9.  Capito- 
linus,  Anton. Pius  8;  id.  M.  Anton.  Phil.  11.  Lampridius,  ^/ex, 
Severus,  57. 

'  Pliny,  Letters,  vii,  18.     The  sum  was  500,000  sesterces. 

3  Any  infringement  of  this  vow  was  punished  by  burial  alive — 
for  instances,  see  Suetonius,  Domitian,  8;  Herodian,  iv,  6,  4: 
Pliny,  Letters,  iv,  11;  Dio,  77,  16  (Xiphilin),  Their  paramours 
were  beaten  to  death. 

4  A  full  account  of  the  Vestals  will  be  found  in  Aulus  Gellius, 
i,  12. 


46         History  of  Women's  Rights 

were  held  in  bondage.  Roman  law  acknow- 
ledged no  legal  rights  on  the  part  of  slaves.' 
Female  slaves  '^^^  master  had  absolute  power  of  life 
and  death .  ^  They  were  exposed  to  every 
whim  of  master  or  mistress  without  redress.^  If 
some  one  other  than  their  owner  harmed  them, 
they  might  obtain  satisfaction  through  their 
master  and  for  his  benefit ;  but  the  penalty  for  the 
aggressor  was  only  pecuniary.  ^  A  slave's  evidence 
was  never  admitted  except  under  torture.  ^  If 
a  master  was  killed,  every  slave  of  his  household 
and  even  his  freedmen  and  freedwomen  were  put  to 
torture,  although  the  culprit  may  already  have 
been  discovered,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  instigator 
of  the  plot  and  his  remotest  accessories.^ 

The  earlier  history  of  Rome  leaves  no  doubt 
that  before  the  Republic  fell  these  laws  were 
carried  out  with  inhuman  severity.  With  the 
growth  of  Rome  into  a  world  power  and  the  con- 
sequent rise  of  humanitarianism^  a  strong  public 

*  Quintilian,  vii,  3,  27:  ad  servum  nulla  lex  pertinet.  On  the 
rare  instances  when  a  slave  could  inform  against  his  master  in 
a  public  court,  see  Hermogenianus  in  Dig.,  v,  i,  53. 

*  Gains,  i,  52  ff. 

3  Gains,  iii,  222.    Cf.  Juvenal  vi,  219-223,  and  474-495. 

4Gaius,  iii,  222.  Salvius  Julianus,  Pars  Secunda,  xv.  Auluj; 
Gellius,  XX,  I. 

s  Paulus,  V,  16. 

^  Paulus,  iii,  v,  5  ff.  Pliny,  Letters,  viii,  14.  Tacitus,  Annals^ 
xiii,  32. 

'  Valerius  Maximus,  vi,  8,  in  a  chapter  entitled  de  fide  ser- 
vorum  speaks  with  great  admiration  of  instances  of  fidelity  on  the 
part  of  slaves.  Seneca  ate  with  his — Epist.  47,  13.  Martial 
laments  the  death  of  a  favourite^slave  girl — v,  34  and  37.     Dio 


Rights  under  Roman  Law         47 

feeling  against  gratuitous  cruelty  towards  slaves 
sprang  up.  This  may  be  illustrated  by  an 
event  which  happened  in  the  reign  of  Nero,  in  the 
year  58,  when  a  riot  ensued  out  of  sympathy  for 
some  slaves  who  had  been  condemned  en  masse 
after  their  master  had  been  assassinated  by  one  of 
them.^  Measures  were  gradually  introduced  for 
alleviating  the  hardships  and  cruelties  of  slavery. 
Claudius  (41-54  a.d.)  ordained^  that  since  sick 
and  infirm  slaves  were  being  exposed  on  an  island 
in  the  Tiber  sacred  to  Aesculapius,  because  their 
masters  did  not  wish  to  bother  about  attending 
them,  all  those  who  were  so  exposed  were  to  be  set 
free  if  they  recovered  and  never  to  be  returned  into 
the  power  of  their  masters ;  and  if  any  owner  pre- 
ferred to  put  a  slave  to  death  rather  than  expose 
him,  he  was  to  be  held  for  murder.  Gentlemen 
began  to  speak  with  contempt  of  a  master  or 
mistress  who  maltreated  slaves.  ^  Hadrian  (117- 
138  A.D.)  modified  the  old  laws  to  a  remarkable 
degree:  he  forbade  slaves  to  be  put  to  death  by 
their  masters  and  commanded  them  to  be  tried  b}'' 

(62,  27 — Xiphilin)  notes  the  heroic  conduct  of  Epicharis,  a 
freedwoman,  who  was  included  in  a  conspiracy  against  Nero; 
but  she  revealed  none  of  its  secrets,  though  tortured  in  every  way 
by  Tigellinus.  The  pages  of  Pliny  are  full  of  the  spirit  of  kind- 
liness to  slaves. 

^  See  Tacitus,  Annals,  xiv,  42  ff. 

'  Suetonius,  Claudius,  25.     Dio,  60,  29  (Xiphilin). 

3  See,  e.g.,  Seneca,  de  Clem.,  i,  18,  i  and  2 — especially  the 
anecdote  of  Vedius  Pollio  (mentioned  also  by  Dio,  54,  23). 
The  interesting  letter  of  Pliny,  viii,  16;  and  cf.  iii,  14,  and  v,  19. 
Juvenal,  vi,  219-223. 


48        History  of  Women's  Rights 

regularly  appointed  judges;  he  brought  it  about 
that  a  slave,  whether  male  or  female,  was  not  to  be 
sold  to  a  slave-dealer  or  trainer  for  public  shows 
without  due  cause;  he  did  away  with  ergastula 
or  workhouses,  in  which  slaves  guilty  of  offences 
were  forced  to  work  off  their  penalties  in  chains 
and  were  confined  to  filthy  dungeons;  and  he 
modified  the  law  previously  existing  to  the  extent 
that  if  a  master  was  killed  in  his  own  house,  the 
inquisition  by  torture  could  not  be  extended  to 
the  whole  household,  but  to  those  only  who,  by 
proximity  to  the  deed,  could  have  noticed  it.' 
Gaius  observes  ^  that  for  slaves  to  be  in  complete 
subjection  to  masters  who  have  power  of  life  and 
death  is  an  institution  common  to  all  nations. 
*'But  at  this  time,"  he  continues,  "it  is  permitted 
neither  to  Roman  citizens  nor  any  other  men  who 
are  under  the  sway  of  the  Roman  people  to  vent 
their  wrath  against  slaves  beyond  measiu-e  and 
without  reason.  In  fact,  by  a  decree  of  the 
sainted  Antoninus  (138-161  a.d.)  a  master  who 
without  cause  kills  his  slave  is  ordered  to  be  held 
no  less  than  he  who  kills  another's  slave.  ^  An 
excessive  severity  on  the  part  of  masters  is  also 
checked  by  a  constitution  of  the  same  prince. 
On  being  consulted  by  certain  governors  about 
those  slaves  who  rush  for  refuge  to  the  shrines  of 

^  Spartianus,  Hadrian,  18. 

» Gaius,  i,  52 ff.     Cf.  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  i,  12,  i  and  8. 

3  The  punishment  for  this  was  pecuniary  damages  equal  to 
twice  the  highest  value  of  a  slave  during  the  year  in  which  he 
was  killed. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law         49 

the  gods  or  the  statues  of  emperors,  he  ordered 
that  if  the  cruelty  of  masters  seemed  intolerable 
they  should  be  compelled  to  sell  their  slaves.*' 
Severus  ordained  that  the  city  prefect  should 
prevent  slaves  from  being  prostituted.  ^  Aurelian 
gave  his  slaves  who  had  transgressed  to  be  heard 
according  to  the  laws  by  public  judges.  ^  Tacitus 
procured  a  decree  that  slaves  were  not  to  be  put 
to  inquisitorial  torture  in  a  case  affecting  a  master's 
life,  not  even  if  the  charge  was  high  treason.  ^  So 
much  for  the  laws  that  mitigated  slavery  under 
the  Empire.  They  were  not  ideal ;  but  they  would 
in  more  respects  than  one  compare  favourably 
with  the  similar  legislation  that  was  in  force,  prior 
to  the  Civil  War,  in  the  American  Slave  States. 

SOURCES 

I.  lurisprudentiae  Anteiustinianae  quae  Supersunt.  ed.  Ph. 
Eduardus  Huschke.  Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1886  (fifth  edition). 

II.  Codex  lustinianus.  Recensuit  Paulus  Krueger.  Berolini 
apud  Weidmannos,  1877. 

Corpus  luris  Civilis:  Institutiones  recognovit  Paulus 
Krueger;  Digesta  recognovit  Theodorus  Mommsen.  Berolini 
apud  Weidmannos,  1882. 

Novellae:  Corpus  luris  Civilis.  Volumen  Tertium  recognovit 
Rudolfus  Schoell;  Opus  Schoellii  morte  interceptum  absolvit 
G.  KroU.     Berolini  apud  Weidmannos,  1895. 

III.  The  Fragments  of  the  Perpetual  Edict  of  Salvius  Juli- 
anus.  Edited  by  Bryan  Walker.  Cambridge  University 
Press,  1877. 

^  Ulpian  in  Dig.,  i,  12,  8:  hoc  quoque  officium  praefecto  urbi 
a  divo  Severe  datum  est,  ut  mancipia  tueatur  ne  prostituantur. 

2  Vopiscus,  Aurelian,  49. 

3  Vopiscus,  Tacitus,  9. 

4 


50         History  of  Women's  Rights 

IV.  Pomponii  de  Origine  luris  Fragmentum:  recognovit 
Fridericus  Osannus.     Gissae,  apud  lo.  Rickerum,  1848. 

V.  Corpus  Inscriptionum  Latinarum,  Consilio  et  Auctoritate 
Academiae  Litterarum  Regiae  Borussicae  editum.  Berolini 
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VI.  Valerii  Ma:.imi  Factorum  et  Dictorum  Memorabilium 
Libri  Novem:  cum  lulii  Paridis  et  lanvarii  Nepotiani  Epitomis: 
iterum  recensuit  Carolus  Kempf.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1888. 

VII.  Cassii  Dionis  Cocceiani  Rerum  Romanarum  libri 
octaginta:  ab  Immanuele  Bekkero  Recogniti.  Lipsiae,  apud 
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VIII.  C.  Suetoni  Tranquilli  quae  Supersunt  Omnia:  recen- 
suit Carolus  L.  Roth.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1898. 

IX.  A.  Persii  Flacci,  D.  lunii  luvenalis,  Sulpiciae  Saturae; 
recognovit  Otto  lahn.  Editio  altera  curam  agente  Francisco 
Duecheler.     Berolini,  apud  Weidmannos,  1886. 

X.  Eutropi  Breviarium  ab  Urbe  Condita:  recognovit  Fran- 
ciscus  Ruehl.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1897. 

XI.  Herodiani  ab  Excessu  Divi  Marci  libri  octo:  ab  Im- 
manuele Bekkero  recogniti.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1855. 

XII.  A.  Gellii  Noctium  Atticarum  libri  XX:  edidit  Carolus 
Hosius.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1903. 

XIII.  Petronii  Saturae  et  Liber  Priapeorum:  quartum  edidit 
Franciscus  Buecheler:  adiectae  sunt  Varronis  et  Senecae  Saturae 
similesque  Reliquiae.     Berolini,  apud  Weidmannos,  1904. 

XIV.  M.  Valerii  Martialis  Epigrammaton  libri:  recognovit 
Walther  Gilbert.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1896. 

XV.  Comelii  Taciti  Libri  qui  Supersunt:  quartum  recognovit 
Carolus  Halm.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1901. 

XVI.  C.  Vellei  Paterculi  ex  Historiae  Romanae  libris  duobus 
quae  supersunt:  edidit  Carolus  Halm.    Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1876. 

XVII.  L.  Annaei  Senecae  Opera  quae  Supersunt:  recognovit 
Fridericus  Haase.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1898. 

XVIII.  Athenaei  Naucratitae  Deipnosophistarum  libri  XV: 
recensuit  Georgius  Kaibel.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1887. 

XIX.  Lucii  Apulei  Metamorphoseon  libri  XI.  Apologia  et 
Florida.  Recensuit  J.  van  der  Vliet.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1897. 

XX.  C.  Plini  Caecili  Secundi  Epistularum  libri  novem, 
Epistularum  ad  Traianum  liber.  Panegyricus.  Recognovit 
C.  F.  W.  Mueller.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1903. 


Rights  under  Roman  Law         51 

XXI.  Scriptores    Historiae    Augustae:    edidit   Hermannus 
Peter.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1888. 

XXII.  M.  Fabii  Quintiliani  Institutionis  Oratoriae  libri  XII: 
recensuit  Eduardus  Bonnell.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1905. 

XXIII.  Marci  Antonini  Commentariorum  libri  XII:  iterum 
recensuit  loannes  Stich.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1903. 

XXIV.  C.  Plinii  Secundi  Naturalis  Historiae  libri  XXXVII: 
recognovit  Ludovicus  lanus.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1854. 

XXV.  XII  Panegyrici  Latini:  recensuit  Aemilius  Baehrens. 
Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1874. 

XXVI.  Plutarchi  Scripta  Moralia,  Graece  etLatine:  Parisiis, 
editore  Ambrosio  F.  Didot,  1841. 

Plutarchi  Vitae  Parallelae:  iterum  recognovit  Carolus  Sin- 
tennis.    Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1884. 

XXVII.  Ammiani    Marcellini   Rerum   Gestarum   libri   qui 
supersunt:  recensuit  V.  Gardthausen.     Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1875. 

XXVIII.  Poetae  Latini  Minores:  recensuit  Aemilius  Baeh- 
rens. Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1883. 


CHAPTER  II 

WOMEN  AND  THE  EARLY  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

MEANWHILE  a  new  world  force,  destined  to 
overthrow  the  old  order  of  things,  was 
growing  slowly  to  maturity  and  spreading  out  its 
might  until  eventually  it  fought  its  way  to  pre- 
eminence. I  have  traced  the  rights  of  women 
imder  the  regime  of  pagan  Rome;  I  shall  inquire 
next  into  the  position  of  women  tmder  Christianity. 
We  must  first  note  the  attitude  of  the  early 
Christians  towards  women  in  general;  for  that 
attitude  will  naturally  be  reflected  in  any  laws 
made  after  the  Church  has  become  supreme  and 
is  combined  with  and  directs  the  State.  That 
will  demand  a  special  chapter  on  Canon  Law ;  but 
in  the  present  chapter  I  propose  to  show  how 
women  were  regarded  by  the  Christians  in  the 
centuries  which  were  the  formative  period  of  the 
Church. 

The  direct  words  of  Christ  so  far  as  they  relate 
to  women  and  as  we  have  them  in  the  Gospels  con- 
cern themselves  wholly  to  bring  about  purity  in 
the  relation  of  the  sexes.  "Ye  have  heard  that  it 
was  said,  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery;  but  I 
say  imto  you,  that  every  one  that  looketh  on  a 

52 


In  the  Early  Christian  Church       53 

woman  to  lust  after  her  hath  committed  adultery 
with  her  already  in  his  heart."  ^  His  commands 
on  the  subject  of  divorce  are  positive  and  un- 
equivocal: "It  was  said  also,  Whosoever  shall  put 
away  his  wife,  let  him  give  her  a  writing  of  divorce- 
ment; but  I  say  unto  you,  that  every  one  that 
putteth  away  his  wife,  saving  for  the  cause  of 
fornication,  maketh  her  an  adultress;  and  whoso- 
ever shall  marry  her  when  she  is  put  away,  com- 
mitteth  adultery."^  Christ  was  content  to  lay 
down  great  ethical  principles,  not  minute  regula- 
tions. Of  any  inferiority  on  the  part  of  women 
he  says  nothing,  nor  does  be  concern  himself  with 
giving  any  directions  about  their  social  or  legal 
rights.  He  blessed  the  marriage  at  Cana;  and 
to  the  woman  taken  in  adultery  he  showed  his 
usual  clemency.  For  the  rest,  his  relations  with 
women  have  an  atmosphere  of  rare  sympathy, 
gentleness,  and  charm. 

But  as  soon  as  we  leave  the  Gospels  and  read 
the  Apostles  we  are  in  a  different  sphere.  The 
Apostles  were  for  the  most  part  men  of  humble 
position,  and  their  whole  lives  were  directed  by 
inherited  beliefs  which  were  distinctly  Jewish  and 
Oriental  or  Greek;  not  Western.  In  the  Orient 
woman  has  from  the  dawn  of  history  to  the  present 
day  occupied  a  position  exceedingly  low.  Indeed, 
in  Mohammedan  countries  she  is  regarded  merely 

^  Matthew  5,  27  ff. 

'Matthew  5,  31  ff.;  id.  19,  3  ff.  Mark  10,  2-12.  Luke 
16,  18. 


54         History  of  Women's  Rights 

as>  a  tool  for  the  man's  sensual  passions  and  she 
is  not  allowed  to  have  even  a  soul.  In  Greece 
women  were  confined  to  their  houses,  were  un- 
educated, and  had  few  public  rights  and  less  moral 
latitude;  their  husbands  had  imlimited  license.^ 
The  Jewish  ideal  is  by  no  means  a  lofty  one  and 
cannot  for  a  moment  compare  with  the  honour  ac- 
corded the  Roman  matron  under  the  Empire.  Ac- 
cording to  Genesis  a  woman  is  the  cause  of  all  the 
woes  of  mankind.  Ecclesiasticus  declares  that  the 
badness  of  men  is  better  than  the  goodness  of 
women.  =*  In  Leviticus^  we  read  that  the  period  of 
purification  customary  after  the  birth  of  a  child  is 
to  be  twice  as  long  in  the  case  of  a  female  as  in  a 

^  Plutarch  lived  in  the  second  century  a.d.  ;  but  he  has  inherited 
the  Greek  point  of  view  and  advises  a  wife  to  bear  with  meek- 
ness the  infidelities  of  the  husband — see  Praecep.  Coniug.,  i6. 
His  words  are  often  curiously  similar  to  those  of  the  Apostles, 
e.g.,  Coniug.  Praecep.,  33:  "The  husband  shall  rule  the  wife  not 
as  if  master  of  a  chattel,  but  as  the  soul  does  the  body."  Id. 
37;  "Wives  who  are  sensible  will  be  silent  when  their  husbands 
are  angry  and  vent  their  passion;  when  their  husbands  are 
silent,  then  let  them  speak  to  them  and  mollify  them."  How- 
ever, like  the  Apostles,  he  enjoins  upon  husbands  to  honour  their 
wives;  his  essay  on  the  "Virtues  of  Women" — ywaiKwp  iperai — 
is  an  affectionate  tribute  to  their  worth. 

Some  of  the  respectable  Puritan  gentlemen  at  Rome  also 
held  that  a  wife  be  content  to  be  a  humble  admirer  of  her  hus- 
band (e.g.,  Pliny,  Paneg.,  83,  hoc  efficiebat,  quod  mariti  minores 
erant  .  .  .  nam  uxori  sufficit  obsequii  gloria,  etc.).  But 
Roman  law  insisted  that  what  was  morally  right  for  the  man 
was  equally  so  for  the  woman;  just  as  it  compelled  a  husband 
himself  to  observe  chastity,  if  he  expected  it  from  his  wife. 

'  Ecclesiasticus  42,  14. 

3  Leviticus  xii,  1-5. 


In  the  Early  Christian  Church       55 

male.  The  inferiority  of  women  was  strongly  felt ; 
and  this  conception  would  be  doubly  operative  on 
men  of  humble  station  who  never  travelled,  who 
had  received  little  education,  and  whose  ideas  were 
naturally  bounded  by  the  horizon  of  their  native 
localities.  We  are  to  remember  also  that  the  East 
is  the  home  of  asceticism,  a  conviction  alien  to 
the  Western  mind.  There  is  no  parallel  in  Western 
Europe  to  St.  Simeon  Stylites. 

We  would,  therefore,  expect  to  find  in  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Apostles  an  expression  of  Jewish,  i.e., 
Eastern  ideals  on  the  subject  of  women ;  and  we  do 
so  find  them.  Following  the  express  commands  of 
Christ,  they  exhorted  to  sexual  purity  and  reiter- 
ated his  injunctions  on  the  matter  of  divorce. 
They  went  much  farther  and  began  to  legislate  on 
more'minute  details.  Paul  allows  second  marriages 
to  women  ^;  but  thinks  it  better  for  a  widow  to 
remain  as  she  is."*  It  is  better  to  marry  than  to 
bum;  yet  would  he  prefer  that  men  and  women 
should  remain  in  celibacy.^  The  power  of  the 
father  to  arrange  a  marriage  for  his  daughter  was, 
under  Roman  law,  limited  by  her  consent;  but 
the  words  of  Paul  make  it  clear  that  it  was  now  to 
be  a  Christian  precept  that  a  father  could  determine 
on  his  own  responsibility  whether  his  daughter 
should  remain  a  virgin.  "*  Wives  are  to  be  in  sub- 
jection to  their  husbands,  and  "let  the  wife  see  that 

^  Romans  7,  2-4. 
*  Corinthians  i,  7,  39. 

3  Corinthians  i,  7,  i  ff, 

4  Corinthians  i,  7,  37. 


56        History  of  Women's  Rights 

she  fear  her  husband. "  ^  Woman  is  the  weaker 
vessel ' ;  she  is  to  be  silent  in  church ;  if  she  desires 
to  learn  anything,  she  should  ask  her  husband 
at  home.^  Furthermore:  "I  permit  not  a  woman 
to  teach,  nor  to  have  dominion  over  a  man, 
but  to  be  in  quietness.  For  Adam  was  first 
formed,  then  Eve;  and  Adam  was  not  beguiled, 
but  the  woman  being  beguiled  hath  fallen  into 
transgression;  but  she  shall  be  saved  through 
childbearing,  if  they  continue  in  faith  and  love 
and  sanctification  with  sobriety.  ""*  The  apparel 
of  women  also  evoked  legislation  from  the  Apostles. 
Women  were  to  pray  with  their  heads  veiled  "for 
the  man  is  not  of  the  woman,  but  the  woman  for 
the  man."  ^  Jewels,  precious  metal,  and  costly 
garments  were  unbecoming  the  modest  woman.  ^ 

In  this  early  stage  of  Christianity  we  may  al- 
ready distinguish  three  conceptions  that  were  quite 
foreign  to  the  Roman  jurist :  I.  The  inferiority 
and  weakness  of  women  was  evident  from  the 
time  of  Eve  and  it  was  an  act  of  God  that  punished 
all  womankind  for  Eve's  transgression.  Woman 
had  been  man's  evil  genius.  II.  She  was  to  be 
submissive  to  father  or  husband  and  not  bring 
her  will  in  opposition  to  theirs.  III.  She  must 
not  be  prominent  in  public,  she  must  consider  her 

^  Ephesians  5,  22  and  33. 
«  Peter  i,  3,  7. 

3  Corinthians  i,  14,  34. 

4  Timothy  i,  2,  12-15. 
s  Corinthians  i,  11,  8. 

^  Timothy  i,  2,  9.    Peter  i,  3. 


In  the  Early  Christian  Church       57 

conduct  and  apparel  minutely,  and  she  was 
exhorted  to  remain  a  virgin,  as  being  thus  in  a 
more  exalted  position.  At  the  same  time  insistence 
was  placed  on  the  fact  that  a  virgin,  wife,  and 
widow  must  be  given  due  honour  and  respect, 
must  be  provided  for,  and  allowed  her  share  in 
taking  part  in  those  interests  of  the  community 
which  were  considered  her  sphere. 

If,  now,  we  examine  the  writings  of  the  Church 
Fathers,  we  shall  see  these  ideas  elaborated  with 
all  the  vehemence  of  religious  zeal. 

The  general  opinions  of  the  Fathers  regarding 
women  present  a  curious  mixture.  They  are  fond 
of  descanting  on  the  fact  that  woman  is  responsible 
for  all  the  woes  of  mankind  and  that  her  very 
presence  is  dangerous.  At  the  same  time  they 
pay  glowing  tribute  to  women  in  particular.  St. 
Jerome  held  that  women  were  naturally  weaker, 
physically  and  morally,  than  men.^  The  same 
saint  proves  that  all  evils  spring  from  women ^; 
and  in  another  passage  he  opines  that  marriage 
is  indeed  a  lottery  and  the  vices  of  women  are 
too  great  to  make  it  worth  while. ^     "The  sex  is 

^  Abelard,  Ep.,  9,  in  vol.  178,  p.  325,  of  Migne:  Beatus  Hier- 
onymus  .  .  .  tanto  magis  necessarium  amorem  huius 
studii  (i.e.  the  Scriptures)  censuit,  quanto  eas  naturaliter  in- 
iirmiriores  et  carne  debiliores  esse  conspexit.  Cf.  St.  Paul  of 
Nolan,  Letters,  23,  §  135 — Migne  61,  p.  273:  Hi  enim  (i.e.  evil 
spirits)  petulantius  infirmiora  vasa  pertentant,  sicut  non 
Adam,  sed  Evam  coluber  aggressus  est. 

*  Adversus  lovianum,  i,  48 — Migne,  vol.  23,  p.  278. 

3  Adversus  lovianum,  i,  28 — Migne,  vol.  23,  pp.  249-250: 
Qui  enim  ducit  uxorem,  in  ambiguo  est,  utrum  odiosam  an  ama- 


58         History  of  Women's  Rights 

practiced  in  deceiving,"  observes  St.  Maximus.^ 
St.  Augustine  disputes  subtly  whether  woman  is 
the  image  of  God  as  well  as  man.  He  says  no, 
and  proves  it  thus^:  The  Apostle  commands 
that  a  man  should  not  veil  his  head,  because  he 
is  the  image  of  God ;  but  the  woman  must  veil  hers, 
according  to  the  same  Apostle;  therefore  the 
woman  is  not  the  image  of  God.  "For  this 
reason,  again,"  continues  the  Saint,  "the  Apostle 
says  *A  woman  is  not  permitted  to  teach,  nor 
to  have  dominion  over  her  husband.'"  Bishop 
Marbodius  calls  woman  a  "pleasant  evil,  at  once 
a  honeycomb  and  a  poison"  and  indicts  the  sex,^ 

bilem  ducat.  Si  odiosam  duxerit,  ferri  non  potest.  Si  amabilem, 
amor  illius  inferno  et  arenti  terrae  et  incendio  comparatur. 
He  quotes  the  Old  Testament,  especially  Pr.  30,  16,  to  support 
his  views. 

^  S.  Maximi  Episcopi  Taurinensis — Homilia  53,  i — Migne, 
vol.  57.  P-  350. 

^  Augustinus:  Quaest.  ex  vet.  Test.,  21 :  an  mulier  imago  Dei  sit 

.  .  .  unde  et  Apostolus,  Vir  quidem,  inquit,  non  debet 
velare  caput,  cum  sit  imago  et  gloria  Dei;  mulier  autem,  inquit, 
velet  caput.  Quare  ?  Quia  non  est  imago  Dei.  Unde  denuo  dicit 
Apostolus:  Mulieri  autem  docere  non  permittitur,  neque  dominari 
in  virum.     Migne,  vol.  35,  p.  2228. 

3  Migne,  vol.  171,  pp.  1698-1699: 

Femina  dulce  malum,  pariter  favus  atque  venenum, 
Melle  linens  gladium  cor  confodit  et  sapientum. 
Quis  suasit  primo  vetitum  gustare  parenti  ? 
Femina.     Quis  patrem  natas  vitiare  coegit? 
Femina.     Quis  f ortem  spoliatum  crine  peremit  ? 
Femina.     Quis  iusti  sacrum  caput  ense  recidit  ? 
Femina. — etc.,  ad  lib. 

However,  in  another  poem  he  acknowledges  that  there  is 
nothing  more  beautiful  than  a  good  woman: 


In  the  Early  Christian  Church      59 

something  on  the  order  of  Juvenal  or  Jonathan 
Swift,  by  citing  the  cases  of  Eve,  the  daughters  of 
Lot,  DeHlah,  Herodias,  Clytemnestra,  and  Progne. 
The  way  in  which  women  were  regarded  as  at  once 
a  blessing  and  a  curse  is  well  illustrated  also  in  a 
distich  of  Sedulius:  *'A  woman  alone  has  been 
responsible  for  opening  the  gates  of  death ;  a 
woman  alone  has  been  the  cause  of  a  return  to 
life."  ^ 

That  women  should  be  in  subjection,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  dictum  of  Paul,  the  Church  Fathers 
assert  emphatically.  "How  can  it  be  said  of  a 
woman  that  she  is  the  image  of  God,"  exclaims 
St.  Augustine,^  "when  it  is  evident  that  she  is 
subject  to  the  rule  of  her  husband  and  has  no 
authority!  Why,  she  can  not  teach,  nor  be  a 
witness,  nor  give  security,  nor  act  in  court;  how 
much  the  more  can  she  not  govern ! ' '  Women  are 
commanded  again  and  again  not  to  perform  any 
of  the   functions  of  men  and  to  yield  a  ready 

In  cunctis  quae  dante  Deo  concessa  videntur 
Usibus  humanis,  nil  pulchrius  esse  putamus, 
Nil  melius  muliere  bona,  etc. 

*  Migne,  vol.  80,  p.  307.     The  sentiment  is  more  fully  de- 
veloped in  another  poem — Migne,  vol.  80,  p.  307 : 

Femina  causa  fuit  humanae  perditionis; 

Qua  reparatur  homo,  femina  causa  fuit. 
Femina  causa  fuit  cur  homo  ruit  a  paradiso; 

Qua  redit  ad  vitam,  femina  causa  fuit. 
Femina  prima  parens  exosa,  maligna,  superba; 

Femina  virgo  parens  casta,  benigna,  pia. 

'  Quaest.  ex  vet.  Test.,  45:  Migne,  vol.  35,  p.  2244. 


6o        History  of  Women's  Rights 

and  unquestioning  obedience  to  their  husbands.' 
The  Fathers  also  insist  that  marriage  without  a 
paternal  parent's  consent  is  fornication.  =^ 

Marriage  was  looked  upon  as  a  necessary  evil, 
permitted,  indeed,  as  a  concession  to  the  weak- 
ness of  mankind,  but  to  be  avoided  if  possible. 
"Celibacy  is  to  be  preferred  to  marriage,"  says 
St.  Augustine. 3  "Celibacy  is  the  life  of  the 
angels,"  remarks  St.  Ambrose. "*  "Celibacy  is  a 
spiritual  kind  of  marriage,"  according  to  St. 
Optatus.s  "Happy  he,"  says  .TertuUian,^  "who 
lives  like  Paul ! ' '  The  same  saint  paints  a  lugubri- 
ous picture  of  marriage  and  the  "bitter  pleasure  of 
children"  (liber or um  amarissima  voluptate)  who 
are  burdens  and  just  as  likely  as  not  will  turn  out 
criminals.  ' '  Why  did  the  Lord  cry  woe  unto  those 
that  are  pregnant  and  give  suck,  unless  it  was  to 
call  attention  to  the  fact  that  children  will  be  a 

'E.g.,  Tertullian,  de  virg.  vel.,  9.  St.  Paul  of  Nolan,  letter 
23,  §  135 — Migne,  61,  p.  273.  Id.,  letter  26,  vol.  61,  p.  732 
of  Migne.  Cf.  Augustine,  letter  262,  §  5 — Migne,  33,  p. 
1079. 

*  Basilius,  ad  Amphil.,  c.  42 :  Matrimonia  sine  iis,  qui  potestatem 
habent,  fornicationes  sunt. 

Ambrose  says:  Honorantur  parentes  Rebeccae  muneribus, 
consulitur  puella  non  de  sponsalibus,  ilia  enim  expectat  iudicium 
parentum;  non  est  enim  virginalis  pudoris  eligere  maritum. 

3  Virginitas  praeferenda  coniugio — August.,  vol.  44,  p.  142  of 
Migne.  The  Council  of  Trent,  eleven  centuries  later,  in  its 
twenty-fourth  session,  re-echoed  this  sentiment  and  anathem- 
atised any  one  who  should  deny  it. 

4  Migne,  vol.  16,  p.  342. 

5  Id.,  II,  p.  1074. 

^  Tertullian  ad  uxorem,  i,  3. 


In  the  Early  Christian  Church       6i 

hindrance  on  the  day  of  judgment?"'  When 
such  views  were  entertained  of  marriage,  it  need 
ilot  seem  remarkable  that  TertulHan  and  St.  Paul 
of  Nolan,  like  Tolstoy  to-day,  discovered  the 
blessings  of  a  celibate  life  after  they  were  mar- 
ried, and  ran  away  from  their  wives.  ^  Jerome 
finds  marriage  useful  chiefly  because  it  produces 
virgins.  3 

As  for  second  marriages,  the  Montanist  and  the 
Novatian  sects  condemned  them  absolutely,  on 
the  ground  that  if  God  has  removed  a  wife  or 
husband  he  has  thereby  signified  his  will  to  end 
the  marrying  of  the  parties ;  TertulHan  calls  second 
marriage  a  species  of  prostitution.  "*  Jerome  ex- 
presses the  more  tolerant  and  orthodox  view: 
"What  then?  Do  we  condemn  second  marriages? 
Not  at  all ;  but  we  praise  single  ones.  Do  we  cast 
the  twice-married  from  the  Church?  Far  from  it; 
but  we  exhort  the  once-married  to  continence.  In 
Noah's  ark  there  were  not  only  clean,  but  also 
unclean  animals." ^ 

^  Id.  ad  uxorem,  i,  5.  See  also  Gregory  of  Nyassa,  de  Virg., 
iii,  on  the  evils  of  matrimony. 

'V.  TertulHan,  ad  uxorem.  For  Paul  of  Nolan,  see  Migne, 
vol.  61,  p.  22. 

sLaudo  nuptias,  laudo  conlugium,  sed  quia  mihi  virgines 
generant. 

*  Ad  uxorem f  i,  7  and  9:  non  aliud  dicendum  erit  secundum 
matrimonium  quam  species  stupri. 

s  Jerome,  EpisL,  123.  See  also  id.,  Epistola  de  viduitate  ser- 
vanda, Migne  22,  p.  550,  and  the  Epist.  de  monogamia,  Migne, 
22,  p.  1046.  Ambrose,  de  viduis  liber  unus,  Migne,  16,  p.  234. 
Cf.  Alanus  de  Insulis  in  Migne,  vol.  210,  p.  194:  Vidua  ad 
secundas  nuptias  non  transeat. 


62         History  of  Women's  Rights 

As  the  Fathers  were  very  well  aware  of  the 
subtle  influence  of  dress  on  the  sexual  passions, 
we  have  a  vast  number  of  minute  regulations  di- 
recting virgins,  matrons,  and  widows  to  be  clothed 
simply  and  without  ornament;  virgins  were  to  be 
veiled.  ^  TertuUian,  with  that  keen  logic  of  which 
the  Church  has  always  been  proud  in  her  sons, 
argues  that  inasmuch  as  God  has  not  made  crimson 
or  green  sheep  it  does  not  behoove  women  to 
wear  colours  that  He  has  not  produced  in  animals 
naturally.  ^  St.  Augustine  forbids  nuns  to  bathe 
more  than  once  a  month,  unless  imder  extreme 
necessity.  ^ 

As  soon  as  the  Church  begins  to  exercise  an 
influence  upon  law,  we  shall  expect  to  see  the  legal 
position  of  women  changed  in  accordance  with 
certain  general  principles  outlined  above,  viz:  I, 
That  inasmuch  as  Adam  was  formed  before 
Eve  and  as  women  are  the  weaker  vessels,  they 
should  confine  themselves  to  those  duties  only 
which  society  has,  from  time  immemorial,  assigned 

^  See,  e.g.,  St.  Cyprian,  de  hahitu  virginum.  TertuUian, 
de  virginihus  velandis  and  de  cuUu  feminarum.  Treatises  on  the 
way  widows  should  dress  were  written,  among  others,  by  St. 
Paul  of  Nolan,  Epist.  23,  §§  133-135 — Migne  61;  Augustine, 
St.  Fulgentius  Rusp.,  St.  Paulinus  Aquil.,  and  St.  Petrus 
Damianus. 

"  De  cuUu  feminarum,  i,  8. 

3  Lavacrum  etiam  corporum  ususque  balneorum  non  sit  assid- 
uus,  sed  eo  quo  solet  intervallo  temporis  tribuatur,  hoc  est, 
semel  in  mense.  Nisi  infirmitatis  necessitas  cogat,  corpus 
saepius  non  lavandum  —  Augustine,  de  monialibus,  Migne, 
vol.  33,  page  963. 


In  the  Early  Christian  Church      63 

them  as  their  peculiar  sphere.  II.  They  should 
be  meek,  and  not  oppose  father  or  husband;  and 
to  these  they  should  go  for  advice  on  all  matters. 
III.  All  license,  such  as  the  Roman  woman's 
right  of  taking  the  initiative  in  a  divorce,  must 
never  be  tolerated.  IV.  They  should  never 
transgress  the  bounds  of  strictest  decorum  in 
conduct  and  dress,  lest  they  seduce  men ;  and  they 
must  never  be  conspicuous  in  public  or  attempt  to 
perform  public  functions.  V.  They  are  to  be  given 
due  honour  and  are  to  be  cared  for  properly. 

The  legal  rights  of  women  would  be  affected, 
moreover,  by  a  difference  in  the  spirit  of  the  law. 
The  Roman  jurist  derived  his  whole  sanction  from 
reason  and  never  allowed  religious  considerations, 
as  such,  to  influence  him  when  legislating  on 
women.  He  recognised  that  laws  are  not  im- 
mutable, but  must  be  changed  to  fit  the  growth 
of  equity  and  tolerance.  No  previous  authority 
was  valid  to  him  if  reason  suggested  that  the 
authority's  dictum  had  outlived  its  usefulness  and 
must  be  adapted  to  larger  ideas.  It  never  occurred 
to  him  to  make  the  inferiority  of  woman  an  act  of 
God.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Church  referred 
everything  to  one  unchanging  authoritative  source, 
the  Gospels  and  the  writings  of  the  Apostles ;  faith 
and  authority  took  the  place  of  reason;  and  any 
attempt  to  question  the  injunctions  of  the  Bible 
was  regarded  as  an  act  of  impiety,  to  be  pun- 
ished accordingly.  And  as  the  various  regula- 
tions about  women  had  now  a  divine  sanction, 


64         History  of  Women's  Rights 

the  permanence  of  these  convictions  was  doubly 
assured. 

SOURCES 

I.    The  Bible. 

II.     Patrologia  Latina:  edidit  J.   P.   Migne.     Parisiis.   221 
volumes  (finished  1864). 


CHAPTER  III 

RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN  AS  MODIFIED  BY  THE  CHRISTIAN 
EMPERORS 

CHRISTIANITY  became  the  state  religion 
♦  under  Constantine,  who  issued  the  Edict  of 
Milan,  giving  toleration  to  the  Christians,  in 
the  year  313.  The  emperors  from  Constantine 
through  Justinian  (527-565)  modified  the  various 
laws  pertaining  to  the  rights  of  women  in  various 
ways.  To  the  enactments  of  Justinian,  who  caused 
the  whole  body  of  the  Roman  law  to  be  collected, 
I  intend  to  give  special  attention.  We  must  not, 
as  yet,  expect  to  find  the  strict  views  of  the  Church 
Fathers  carried  out  in  any  severe  degree.  On 
the  contrary  the  old  Roman  law  was  still  so 
powerful  that  it  was  for  the  most  part  beyond  the 
control  of  ecclesiasts.  Justinian  was  an  ardent 
admirer  of  it  and  could  not  escape  from  its  pre- 
vailing spirit.  Canon  law  had  not  yet  developed. 
When  the  old  Roman  civilisation  in  Italy  has 
succumbed  completely  to  its  barbarian  conquerors; 
when  the  East  has  been  definitely  sundered  from 
the  West ;  when  the  Church  has  risen  supreme, 
has  won  temporal  power,  and  has  developed 
canon  law  into  a  force  equal  to  the  civil  law, — 
s  65 


66         History  of  Women's  Rights 

then  finally  we  shall  expect  to  see  the  legal  rights 
of  women  changed  in  accordance  with  two  new 
worid  forces — the  Roman  Catholic  Church  and  the 
Germanic  nations.  I  shall  now  discuss  legislation 
having  to  do  with  my  subject  under  the  Christian 
emperors  from  Constantine  (306-337)  through  the 
reign  of  Justinian  (527-565). 

The  power  of  husband  and  wife  to  uivorce  at  will 
and  for  any  cause,  which  we  have  seen  obtained 
Divorce:  undcr  the  old  Roman  law,  was  confined 
rescript  of      to  Certain  causes  only  by  Theodosius  and 

Theodosius  .     .  -  \         *t»< 

and  Valentmian(449  A.D.).     These  emperors 

vaientinian.  asscrtcd  vigorously  that^  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  marriage  tie  should  be  made  more 
difficult,  especially  out  of  regard  to  the  children. 
Pursuant  to  this  idea  the  power  of  divorce  was 
given  for  the  following  reasons  alone:  adultery, 
murder,  treason,  sacrilege,  robbery;  unchaste 
conduct  of  a  husband  with  a  woman  not  his  wife 
and  vice-versa;  if  a  wife  attended  public  games 
without  her  husband's  permission;  and  extreme 
physical  violence  of  either  party.  A  woman  who 
sent  her  husband  a  bill  of  divorce  for  any  other 
reason  forfeited  her  dowry  and  all  ante-nuptial 
gifts  and  could  not  marry  again  for  five  years, 
under  penalty  of  losing  all  civil  rights.  Her  pro- 
perty accrued  to  her  husband  to  be  kept  in  trust  for 
the  children. 

Justinian  made  more  minute  regulations  on  the 
subject    of    divorce.     To    the    valid    causes    for 

'  Codex,  V,  17,  8  contains  this  rescript  in  full. 


Modified  by  the  Christian  Emperors  67 

divorce  as  laid  down  by  Theodosius  and  Valen- 
tinian  he  added  impotence ;  if  a  separation  was  ob- 
tained on  this  ground,  the  husband  might  justinian  on 
retain  ante-nuptial  gifts/  Abortion  divorce, 
committed  by  the  wife  or  bathing  with  other  men 
than  her  husband  or  inveigling  other  men  to  be  her 
paramours — these  offences  on  the  part  of  the  wife 
gave  her  husband  the  right  of  divorce.  ^  Captivity 
of  either  party  for  a  prolonged  period  of  time  was 
always  a  valid  reason.  Justinian  added  also^ 
that  a  man  who  dismissed  his  wife  without  any  of 
the  legal  causes  mentioned  above  existing  or  who 
was  himself  guilty  of  any  of  these  offences  must 
give  to  his  wife  one  fourth  of  his  property  up  to 
a  sum  not  to  exceed  one  hundred  librae  of  gold, 
if  he  owned  property  worth  four  hundred  librae 
or  more ;  if  he  had  less,  one  fourth  of  all  he  possessed 
was  forfeit.  The  same  penalties  held  for  the  wife 
who  presumed  to  dismiss  her  husband  without  the 
offences  legally  recognised  existing.  The  forfeited 
money  was  at  the  free  disposal  of  the  blameless 
party  if  there  were  no  children ;  these  being  extant, 
the  property  must  be  preserved  intact  for  their 
inheritance  and  merely  the  usufruct  could  be 
enjoyed  by  the  trustees.  A  woman  who  secured 
a  divorce  through  a  fault  of  her  husband  had 
always  to  wait  at  least  a  year  before  marrying 
again  propter  seminis  confusionemJ 

^  Codex,  V,  17,  10. 
"Codex,  V,  17,  II. 
3  Id. 
^Novellae,  22,  18. 


68         History  of  Women's  Rights 

Justin,  the  nephew  and  successor  of  Justinian, 
reaffirmed  the  right  to  divorce  by  mutual  consent, 
Justin  ^^^^  abrogating  the  laws  of  his  pre- 

vokes  decrees  dcccssors.  ^  Justinian  had  ordained 
of  Justinian,  ^-^q^  if  husband  and  wife  separated  by- 
mutual  consent,  they  were  to  be  forced  to  spend  the 
rest  of  their  lives  in  a  convent  and  forfeit  to  it 
one  third  of  their  goods.  ^  Justin,  then,  made 
the  pious  efforts  of  his  uncle  naught.  Nothing 
can  more  clearly  illustrate  than  his  decree  how 
small  a  power  the  Church  still  possessed  to  mould 
the  tenor  of  the  law;  for  such  a  thing  as  divorce 
by  mutual  consent,  without  any  necessary  reason, 
was  a  serious  misdemeanour  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Church  Fathers,  who  passed  upon  it  their  severest 
censures. 

On  the  subject  of  adultery  Justinian  enacted 
that  if  the  husband  was  the  guilty  party,  the  dowry 
Aduite  "  ^^^  marriage  donations  must  be  given 
his  wife;  but  the  rest  of  his  property 
accrued  to  his  relatives,  both  in  ascending  and  de- 
scending lines, to  the  third  degree;  these  failing,  his 

^  Novellae,  140,  i :  Antiquitus  quidem  licebat  sine  periculo 
tales  (i.  e.,  those  of  incompatible  temperament)  ab  invicem  sepa- 
rari  secundum  communem  voluntatem  et  consensum  hoc  agentes, 
sicut  et  plurimae  tunc  leges  extarent  hoc  dicentes  et  bona  gratia 
sic  procedentem  solutionem  nuptiarum  patria  vocitantes  voce. 
Postea  vero  divae  memoriae  nostro  patri  ....  legem 
sancivit  prohibens  cum  consensu  coniugia  solvi.  .  .  .  Haec 
igitur  aliena  nostris  iudicantes  temporibus  in  praesenti  sacram 
constituimus  legem,  per  quam  sancimus  licere  ut  antiquitus 
consensu  coniugum  solutiones  nuptiarum  fieri. 

"Novellae,  134,  ii. 


Modified  by  the  Christian  Emperors  69 

goods  were  confiscated  to  the  royal  purse.  ^  A 
woman  guilty  of  adultery  was  at  once  sent  to  a 
monastery.  After  a  space  of  two  years  her  hus- 
band could  take  her  back  again,  if  he  so  wished, 
without  prejudice.  If  he  did  not  so  desire,  or  if 
he  died,  the  woman  was  shorn  and  forced  to  spend 
the  rest  of  her  life  in  a  nunnery ;  two  thirds  of  her 
property  were  given  to  her  relatives  in  descending 
line,  the  other  third  to  the  monastery ;  if  there  were 
no  descendants,  ascendants  got  one  third  and 
the  monastery  two  thirds;  relatives  failing,  the 
monastery  took  all ;  and  in  all  cases  goods  inserted 
in  the  dowry  contract  were  to  be  kept  for  the 
husband.^ 

The  legislation  of  the  earlier  Christian  emperors 
on  second  marriages  reflects  the  various  second  mar- 
feelings  of  the  Church  Fathers  on  the  "«««s- 
subject.  Under  the  old  law,  people  could  marry 
as  often  as  they  wished  without  any  penalties.  ^ 
But  we  have  seen  that  among  some  of  the  Church- 
men second  marriages  were  held  in  peculiar  ab- 
horrence, and  third  nuptials  were  regarded  as  a 
hideous  sin;  while  the  orthodox  clergy,  like  St. 
Augustine  and  St.  Jerome,  permitted  second  and 
third  marriages,  but  damned  them  with  faint 
praise  and  urged  Christians  to  be  content  with 

»  Novellae,  134,  10. 

'  Novellae,  134,  10. 

3  Novellae,  22  (praefatio):  Antiquitas  equidem  non  satis 
aliquid  de  prioribus  aut  secundis  perscrutabatur  nuptiis,  sed 
licebat  et  patribus  et  matribus  et  ad  plures  venire  nuptias  et 
lucro  nuUo  privari,  et  causa  erat  in  simplicitate  confusa. 


70         History  of  Women*s  Rights 

one  venture.  Public  opinion,  custom,  and  the  in- 
fluence of  the  old  Roman  law  were  too  powerful 
to  allow  Christian  monarchs  to  become  fanatical 
on  the  subject  ^ ;  but  certain  stricter  regula- 
tions were  introduced  by  the  pious  Gratian, 
Valentinian,  and  Theodosius,  in  the 
Gratian^vaN  ycars  380,  38 1,  and  382.^  As  under 
entinian,  and  ^j^g  qJ^j  laws,  anv  widow  who  married 

Theodosius.  •' 

again  before  the  legal  time  of  mourning 
— a  year — had  expired,  became  infamous  and  lost 
both  cast  and  all  claims  to  the  goods  of  her 
deceased  husband.  She  was  furthermore  not 
permitted  to  give  a  second  husband  more  than  one 
third  of  her  property  nor  leave  him  more  than  one 
third  by  will;  and  she  could  receive  no  intestate 
succession  beyond  the  third  degree.  A  woman 
who  proceeded  to  a  second  marriage  after  the 
legal  period  of  mourning,  must  make  over  at  once 
to  the  children  of  the  first  marriage  all  the  property 
which  her  former  husband  had  given  or  left  to  her. 
As  to  her  own  personal  property,  she  was  allowed 
to  possess  it  and  enjoy  the  income  while  she  lived, 
but  not  to  alienate  it  or  leave  it  by  will  to  any  one 
except  the  children  of  the  first  marriage.  As 
I  have  before  remarked,  Roman  law  constantly 
had  the  interest  of  the  children  at  heart.  ^     If 


'  The  language  of  some  of  them  is  pretty  strong,  however — 
matre  iam  secundis  nuptiis  funestata — Codex,  v,  9,  3  (Gratian, 
Valentinian,  Theodosius). 

"  For  these  see  Codex,  v,  9,  i  and  2  and  3. 

'  Cf.  Codex,  V,  9,  4.  Nos  enim  hac  lege  id  praecipue  custodi- 


Modified  by  the  Christian  Emperors   71 

there  was  no  issue  of  the  first  marriage,  then  the 
woman  had  free  control.  A  mother  acquired  full 
right — as  the  old  Senatus  consultum  Tertullianum 
had  decreed — to  the  property  of  a  son  or  daughter 
who  died  childless ' ;  but  if  she  married  a  second 
time,  and  her  son  or  daughter  died  without  leaving 
children  or  grandchildren,  she  was  expelled  from 
all  succession  and  distant  relatives  acquired  the 
property.^ 

Justinian  changed  these  enactments  to  a  pro- 
nounced degree.  "We  are  not  making  laws 
that  are  too  bitter  against  women  justinian  mod- 
who  marry  a  second  time,'*  he  remarks, ^  lawTto^a  *ieat 
"and  we  do  not  want  to  lead  them,  degree, 

in  consequence  of  such  action,  to  the  harsh 
necessity,  unworthy  of  our  age,  of  abstaining 
from  a  chaste  second  marriage  and  descend- 
ing to  illegitimate  connections."  He  ordained, 
therefore,  that  the  law  mentioned  above  be 
annulled  and  that  mothers  should  have  abso- 
lutely unrestricted  rights  of  inheritance  to  a 
deceased  child's  property  along  with  the  latter's 
brothers  and  sisters;   and  second  marriage  was 

endum  esse  decrevimus,  ut  ex  quocumque  coniugio  suscepti 
filii  patrum  suorum  sponsalicias  retineant  facultates. 

'  Codex,  vi,  56,  5. 

'Novellae,  ii,  3:  ex  absurditate  legis,  licet  praemoriantur  filii 
omnes,  non  relinquentes  filios  aut  nepotes,  nihilominus  sup- 
plicium  manet,  et  non  succedit  eis  mater,  sed  expellitur  ab 
eorum  inhumane  successione  .  .  .  sed  succedunt  quidem 
illis  aliqui  ex  longa  cognatione. 

3  Novellae,  ii,  3. 


72         History  of  Women's  Rights 

never  to  create  any  prejudice.  *  In  the  earlier  part 
of  his  reign  Justinian  also  forbade  husband  or 
wife  to  leave  one  another  property  under  the 
stipulation  that  the  surviving  partner  must  not 
marry  again  ^;  but  later,  when  his  zeal  for  reform 
had  become  more  pronounced  and  fanatical,  he 
revoked  this  and  gave  the  conditioned  party  the 
option  either  of  enjoying  the  property  by  remainmg 
unmarried  or  of  forfeiting  it  by  a  second  union.  ^ 
Constantine  ordained,  ^  in  the  year  336,  that 
if  an  engagement  was  broken  by  the  death 
Breaking  of  of  onc  of  the  Contracting  parties  and 
engagements.  ^  ^-^^  Qsculum^  had  taken  place,  half 
of j  whatever  donations  had  been  given  was 
to  be  handed  over  to  the  surviving  party  and 
half  to  the  heirs  of  the  deceased;  but  if  the 
solemn  osculum  had  not  yet  taken  place,  all 
gifts  went  to  the  heirs  of  the  deceased.  There 
was  also  a  law  that  if  either  party  broke  the  engage- 
ment to  enter  monastic  life,  the  man  who  did  so 
lost  all  that  he  had  given  by  way  of  earnest 
money  for  the  marriage  contract  (arrarum  nomine) ; 
if  it  was  the  woman  who  took  the  initiative,  she 
was  compelled  to  return  twice  the  amount  of  any 
sums  she  had  received.    This  was  changed  by 

*  Novellae  ii,  3. 

» Codex,  vi,  40,  2  and  3. 

3  Novellae,  22,  44:  unde  sancimus,  si  quis  prohibuerit  ad  aliud 
venire  matrimonium,  etc. 

4  Codex,  V,  3,  16. 

sThe    osculum    was    a   sort  of    "donation    on   account   of 
marriage"  made  on  the  day  of  the  formal  engagement. 


Modified  by  the  Christian  Emperors   73 

Justinian,  who  enacted  that  those  who  broke 
an  engagement  to  enter  monastic  Hfe  should 
merely  return  or  receive  whatever  donations  had 
been  made.  ^  Constantine  and  his  successors  abro- 
gated the  old  time  Julian  laws,  which  had  inflicted 
certain  penalties — such  as  limited  rights  of  in- 
heritance— on  men  and  women  who  did  not  marry.  ^ 
I  have  already  pointed  out  that  gifts  between 
husband  and  wife  were  illegal  and  I  have  explained 
the  reasons.     Justinian  allowed  the  hus-     ^, 

Changes  in 

band  to  make  donations  to  his  wife,  in  the  law  of 
such  wise,  however,  that  all  chance  of  ^"*^' 

intent  to  defraud  might  be  absent.  ^  He  ordained 
also  that  if  husband  or  wife  left  the  married  state 
to  embrace  a  celibate  life,  each  party  was  to  keep 
his  or  her  own  property  as  per  marriage  contract 
or  as  each  would  legitimately  in  the  case  of  the 
other's  death.  ^  If  any  one,  after  vowing  the 
monastic  life,  returned  to  the  world,  his  or  her 

»  Codex,  i,  3,  54  (56). 

»  Codex,  viii,  57  (58),  i  and  2.  Cf.  Codex,  viii,  58  (59),  I  and  2. 

»  Codex,  V,  3,  10. 

4  Codex,  i,  3,  54  (56).  Gregory  of  Tours  informs  us  that  ac- 
cording to  the  Council  of  Nicaea — 325  a.d. — a  wife  who  left 
her  husband,  to  whom  she  was  happily  married,  to  enter  a  nun- 
nery incurred  excommunication.  He  means  probably:  if  she 
went  without  her  husband's  consent.  Greg.  9,  33:  Tunc  ego 
accedens  ad  monasterium  canonum  Nicaenorum  decreta  relegi, 
in  quibus  continetur:  quia  si  quae  reliquerit  virum  et  thorum,  in 
quo  bene  vexit,  spreverit,  dicens  quia  non  sit  ei  portio  in  ilia 
caelestis  regni  gloria  qui  fuerit  coniugio  copulatus,  anathema 
sit.  (Note  of  editor:  Videtur  esse  canon  14  concilii  Grangensis, 
quod  concilium  veteres  Nicaeno  subiungere  solebant;  idque 
indicat  titulus  in  veteribus  scriptis.) 


74         History  of  Women's  Rights 

goods  were  forfeit  to  the  monastery  which  he  or 
she  had  left.  ^ 

The  consent  of  the  father  or,  if  he  was  dead,  of 
near  relatives  was  emphatically  declared  necessary 
Various  en-  by  the  Christian  emperors  for  a  marriage 
actments  on    and  the  woman  had  practically  no  will 

marriage.  .    ,  ,   ^  <       ./•  i  • 

of  her  own  although,  if  several  suitors 
were  proposed  to  her,  she  might  be  requested  to 
name  which  one  she  preferred.^  Marriage  with 
a  Jew  was  treated  as  adultery.  ^  Women  who 
belonged  to  heretical  sects  were  to  have  no 
privileges.  ^  Justinus  and  Justinian  abrogated  the 
old  law  which  forbade  senators  to  marry  freed- 
women  or  any  woman  who  had  herself  or  whose 
parents  had  followed  the  stage.  Actresses  were 
now  permitted,  on  giving  up  their  profession,  to 
claim  all  the  rights  of  other  free  women;  and  a 
senator  could  marry  such  or  even  a  freedwoman 
without  prejudice.  ^ 

Under  the  old  law,  as  we  have  seen,  a  son  and  a 
daughter  had  equal  rights  to  intestate  succession ; 
in  ^^^  beyond  the  relationship  of  daughter 
the  laws  of  in-  to  father  or  sister  to  brother  women  had 
hentance.  ^^  rights  to  intcstatc  succcssion  unless 
there  were  no  agnates,  that  is,  male  relatives  on 
the  father's  side.  Thus,  an  aunt  would  not  be 
called  to  the  estate  of  a  nephew  who  died  childless, 

^  Codex,  i,  3,  54  (56). 

»  Codex,  V,  4,  20,  and  5,  18. 

'  Codex,  i,  9,  6. 

<  Novellae,  cix,  i. 

s  Codex,  V,  4,  23  and  28. 


Modified  by  the  Christian  Emperors  75 

but  the  uncle  was  regularly  admitted.  So,  too,  a 
nephew  was  admitted  to  the  intestate  succession 
of  an  uncle,  who  died  without  issue,  but  the  niece 
was  shut  out.  All  this  was  changed  by  Justinian, 
who  gave  women  the  same  rights  of  inheritance 
as  men  under  such  conditions.^  If  the  children 
were  tmorthodox,  they  were  to  have  absolutely  no 
share  of  either  parent's  goods.  ^ 

The  Christian  emperors  permitted  widows  to  be 
guardians  over  their  children  if  they  women  as 
promised  on  oath  not  to  marry  again  guardians, 
and  gave  security  against  fraud.  ^  Justinian  for- 
bade women  to  act  by  themselves  in  in  suits, 
any  legal  matters.  ^ 

Arcadius  and  Honorius  (397  A.D.)  enacted  some 
particularly  savage  bills  of  attainder,  which  were 
in  painful  contrast  to  the  clemency  Bius  of 
of  their  pagan  predecessors.  Those  attainder, 
guilty  of  high  treason  were  decapitated  and  their 
goods  escheated  to  the  crown.  "To  the  sons  of 
such  a  man  [i.e., one  condemned  for  high  treason]," 
write  these  amiable  Christians, ^  "we  allow  their 
lives  out  of  special  royal  mercy — for  they  ought 
really  to  be  put  to  death  along  with  their  fathers — 
but  they  are  to  receive  no  inheritances.  Let  them 
be  paupers  forever ;  let  the  infamy  of  their  father 
ever  follow  them ;  they  may  never  aspire  to  office ; 

'  Codex,  vi,  58,  14. 
'  Codex,  i,  5,  19. 

3  Codex,  V,  35,  2  and  3. 

4  Codex,  ii,  55,  6. 
s  Codex,  ix,  8,  5. 


76        History  of  Women's  Rights 

in  their  lasting  poverty  let  death  be  a  relief  and 
life  a  punishment.  Finally,  any  one  who  tries  to 
intercede  for  these  with  us  is  also  to  be  infamous." ' 
However,  to  the  daughters  of  the  condemned  these 
emperors  graciously  granted  one  fourth  of  their 
mother's  but  not  any  of  their  father's  goods.  In 
the  case  of  crimes  other  than  high  treason  the 
children  or  grandchildren  were  allowed  one  half  of 
the  estate.^  Constantine  decreed  that  a  wife's 
property  was  not  to  be  affected  by  the  condem- 
nation of  her  husband.  3 

Ravishers  of  women,  even  of  slaves  and  freed- 
women,  were  punished  by  Justinian  with  death; 
^^  ^  but  in  the  case  of  freebom  women  only 

did  the  property  of  the  guilty  man  and 
his  abettors  become  forfeit  to  the  outraged  victim. 
A  woman  no  longer  had  the  privilege  of  demand- 
ing her  assailant  in  marriage.'* 

SOURCES 

Roman  Law  as  cited  in  Chapter  I,  especially  the  Novellae  of 
Justinian. 


*  This  law  was  evidently  lasting,  for  it  is  quoted  with  approval 
by  Pope  Innocent  III,  in  the  year  1199 — see  Friedberg,  Corpus 
luris  Canonici,  vol.  ii,  p.  782. 

'  Codex,  ix,  49,  10. 

3  Codex,  V,  16,  24. 

4  For  all  these  enactments  see  Codex,  i,  3,  53  (54),  and  ix,  13. 


CHAPTER  IV 

WOMEN  AMONG  THE  GERMANIC  PEOPLES 

A  SECOND  world  force  had  now  come  into  its 
own.  The  new  power  was  the  Germanic 
peoples,  those  wandering  tribes  who,  after  shatter- 
ing the  Roman  Empire,  were  destined  to  form 
the  modem  nations  of  Europe  and  to  find  in 
Christianity  the  religion  most  admirably  adapted 
to  fill  their  spiritual  needs  and  shape  their  ideals. 
In  the  year  476  the  barbarian  Odoacer  ascended 
the  throne  of  the  Caesars.  He  still  pretended  to 
govern  by  virtue  of  the  authority  delegated  to  him 
by  Zeno,  emperor  at  Constantinople ;  but  the  rup- 
ture between  East  and  West  was  becoming  final 
and  after  the  reign  of  Justinian  (527-565)  it  was 
practically  complete.  Henceforth  the  eastern 
empire  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  western 
Europe  and  subsisted  as  an  independent  monarchy 
until  Constantinople  was  taken  by  the  Turks  in 
1453.  I  shall  not  concern  myself  with  it  any 
longer. 

In  western  Europe,  then,  new  races  with  new 

ideals  were  forming  the  nations  that  to-day  are 

England,    Germany,    France,    Spain,    Italy,    and 

Austria.     It  is  interesting  to  note  what  some  of 

•     77 


78        History  of  Women's  Rights 

these  barbarians  thought  about  women  and  what 
place  they  assigned  them. 

Our  eariiest  authorities  on  the  subject  are 
Julius  Caesar  and  Tacitus.  Caesar  informs  us^ 
Julius  Caesar's  ^^at  among  the  Gauls  marriage  was  a 
account.  ^g^  Tccognized  institution.     The  hus- 

band contributed  of  his  own  goods  the  same 
amount  that  his  wife  brought  by  way  of  dowry; 
the  combined  property  and  its  income  were  enjoyed 
on  equal  terms  by  husband  and  wife.  If  husband 
or  wife  died,  all  the  property  became  the  posses- 
sion of  the  surviving  partner.  Yet  the  husband 
had  full  power  of  life  and  death  over  his  wife  as 
over  his  children;  and  if,  upon  the  decease  of  a 
noble,  there  were  suspicions  regarding  the  manner 
of  his  death,  his  wife  was  put  to  inquisitorial 
torture  and  was  burnt  at  the  stake  when  adjudged 
guilty  of  murder.  Among  the  Germans  women 
seem  to  have  been  held  in  somewhat  greater  re- 
spect. German  matrons  were  esteemed  as  prophet- 
esses and  no  battle  was  entered  upon  unless  they 
had  first  consulted  the  lots  and  given  assurance 
that  the  fight  would  be  successful.^  As  for  the 
British,  who  were  not  a  Germanic  people,  Caesar 
says  that  they  practiced  polygamy  and  near 
relatives  were  accustomed  to  have  wives  in 
common.  2 

Tacitus  wrote  a  centiiry  and  a  half  after  Julius 

*  de  Bell.  Gall.,  vi,  19. 
» Id.,  i,  50. 
3  Id.,  V,  14. 


Women  among  Germanic  Peoples     79 

Caesar,  when  the  tribes  had  become  better  known 
to  the  Romans;  hence  we  get  from  him  more  de- 
tailed information.  From  him  we  The  account 
learn  that  both  the  Sitones — a  people  of  Tacitus, 
of  northern  Germany — and  the  British  often  be- 
stowed the  royal  power  on  women,  a  circumstance 
which  aroused  the  strong  contempt  of  Tacitus, 
who  was  in  this  respect  of  a  conservative  mind.' 
The  Romans  had,  indeed,  good  reason  to  remember 
with  sorrow  the  valiant  Boadicea,  queen  of  the 
Britons.  ^  Regarding  the  Germans  Tacitus  wrote 
a  whole  book  in  which  he  idealises  that  nation  as 
a  contrast  to  the  lax  morality  of  civilised  Rome, 
much  as  Rousseau  in  the  eighteenth  century 
extolled  the  virtues  of  savages  in  a  state  of  nature. 
What  Tacitus  says  in  regard  to  lofty  morals  we 
shall  do  well  to  take  with  a  pinch  of  salt;  but 
we  may  with  more  safety  trust  his  accuracy 
when  he  depicts  national  customs.  From  Tacitus 
we  learn  that  the  Germans  believed  something 
divine  resided  in  women  3;  hence  their  respect  for 
them    as   prophetesses.  ^    One    Velaeda   by    her 

^  Agricola,  i6.  Germania,  45:  Suionibus  Sitonum  gentes 
continuantur.  Cetera  similes,  uno  differunt,  quod  femina  domi- 
natur;  in  tantum  non  modo  a  libertate,  sed  etiam  a  servitute  de- 
generant.  No  woman  ever  reigned  alone  as  queen  of  the  Roman 
Empire  until  450  a.d.,  when  Pulcheria,  sister  of  Theodosius  II, 
ascended  the  throne  of  the  East;  but  she  soon  took  the  senator 
Marcian  in  marriage  and  made  him  king. 

^  Agricola,  16. 

3  Germania,  8. 

4  Procopius,  de  hello  Vandalico,  ii,  8,  observes  the  same  thing 
among  the  Maurousians,  or  Moors,  in  northern  Africa:  ivSpa  yd.p 


8o        History  of  Women's  Rights 

soothsaying  ruled  the  tribe  of  Bnicteri  completely ' 
and  was  regarded  as  a  goddess,  *  as  were  many 
others.^  The  German  warrior  fought  his  best 
that  he  might  protect  and  please  his  wife.'*  The 
standard  of  conjugal  fidelity  was  strict^ ;  men  were 
content  with  one  wife,  although  high  nobles  were 
sometimes  allowed  several  wives  as  an  increase 
to  the  family  prestige.  ^  The  dowry  was  brought 
not  by  the  wife  to  the  husband,  but  to  the  wife 
by  the  husband — evidently  a  survival  of  the 
custom  of  wife  purchase ;  but  the  wife  was  accus- 
tomed to  present  her  husband  with  arms  and  the 
accoutrements  of  war.  ^  She  was  reminded  that 
she  took  her  husband  for  better  and  worse,  to  be 
a  faithful  partner  in  joy  and  sorrow  until  death.  ^ 
A  woman  guilty  of  adultery  was  shorn  and  her 
husband  drove  her  naked  through  the  village 
with  blows.  ^ 

We  see,  then,  that  by  no  means  all  of  these 
barbarian  nations  had  the  same  standards  in 
regard  to  women.     Of  written  laws   there  were 

fiaPTeieaOai  ip  rip  edvei  roirip  oi  dipxs,  dXXi  'yvvoLKet  <r(f>l(n  Kdroxoi 
iK  5iJ  TITOS  lepovpylas  yivSfxevai  irpoiXiyovo'i  rd  iffd/xepa,  tup  TrdXot 
XP'ri<^TripLo}p  oidepbs  ij<r<Tov. 

*  Tacitus,  Hist.,  iv,  6i,  and  v,  24. 

'  Id.,  Germania,  8. 

3  Ibid.,  8. 

4  Ibid.,  7. 

5  Ibid.,  17. 

6  Ibid. 

7  Ibid.,  18. 

8  Ibid.,  18  and  19. 
'Ibid.,  19. 


Women  among  Germanic  Peoples     8i 

none  as  yet.  But  contact  with  the  civihsation 
of  Rome  had  its  effect;  and  when  Goths,  Bur- 
gundians,  Franks,  and  Lombards  had  xhe  written 
founded  new  states  on  the  ruins  of  the  laws  of  the 
western  Roman  Empire,  the  national 
laws  of  the  Germanic  tribes  began  to  be  collected 
and  put  into  writing  at  the  close  of  the  fifth  cent- 
ury. Between  the  fifth  and  the  ninth  centuries  we 
get  the  Visigothic,  Burgundian,  Salic,  Ripuarian, 
Alemannic,  Lombardian,  Bavarian,  Frisian,  Saxon, 
and  Thuringian  law  books.  They  are  written  in 
medieval  Latin  and  are  not  elaborated  on  a  scien- 
tific basis.  Three  distinct  influences  are  to  be 
seen  in  them:  (i)  native  race  customs,  ideals,  and 
traditions;  (2)  Christianity;  (3)  the  Roman  civil 
law,  which  was  felt  more  or  less  in  all,  but  especi- 
ally in  the  case  of  the  Visigoths;  as  was  natural, 
since  this  people  had  been  brought  into  closest 
touch  with  Rome.  Inasmuch  as  the  barbarians 
allowed  all  peoples  conquered  by  them  to  be  tried 
under  their  own  laws,  the  old  Roman  civil  law 
was  still  potent  in  all  its  strength  in  cases  affecting 
a  Roman.  Let  us  endeavour  to  glean  what  we 
can  from  the  barbarian  codes  on  the  matter  of 
women's  rights. 

The  woman  was  always  to  be  under  guardianship 
among  the  Germanic  peoples  and  could  never  be 
independent  under  any  conditions.    Per- 

,  111  1  ti      t  Guardianship. 

haps  we  should  rather  call  the  power 
(mundium)  wielded  by  father,  brother,  husband,  or 
other  male  relative  a  protectorate ;  for  in  those  early 


S2        History  of  Women's  Rights 

days  among  rude  peoples  any  legal  action  might 
involve  fighting  to  prove  the  merits  of  one's  case, 
and  the  woman  would  therefore  constantly  need  a 
champion  to  assert  her  rights  in  the  lists.  Thus  the 
woman  was  under  the  perpetual  guardianship  of  a 
male  relative  and  must  do  nothing  without  his  con- 
sent, under  penalty  of  losing  her  property.  ^  Her 
guardian  arranged  her  marriage  for  her  as  he 
wished,  provided  only  that  he  chose  a  free  man 
for  her  husband^;  if  the  woman,  whether  virgin 
or  widow,  married  without  his  consent,  she  lost 
all  power  to  inherit  the  goods  of  her  relatives^; 
and  her  husband  was  forced  to  pay  to  her  kin  a 
recompense  amounting  to  600  solidi  among  the 
Saxons,  186  among  the  Burgundians."* 

'  Liutprand,  i,  5:  Si  filiae  aut  sorores  contra  voluntatem  patris 
aut  fratris  egerint,  potestatem  habet  pater  aut  frater  iudicandi 
res  suas  quomodo  aut  qualiter  voluerit. 

'Leges  Liutprandi,  vi,  119:  si  quis  filiam  suam  aut  sororem 
alii  sponsare  voluerit,  habeat  potestatem  dandi  cui  voluerit, 
libero  tamen  homini.     Lex  Wisigothorum,  iii,  i,  7  and  8. 

3  Leges  Liutprandi,  vi,  119.  Lex  Angliorum  et  Werinorum, 
X,  2:  si  libera  femina  sine  voluntate  patris  aut  tutoris  cuilibet 
nupserit,  perdat  omnem  substantiam  quam  habuit  vel  habere 
debuit.  Reply  of  a  bishop  quoted  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  9,  33: 
quia  sine  consilio  parentum  earn  coniugio  copulas ti,  non  erit 
uxor  tua.  But  the  law  of  the  Visigoths  (iii,  i,  8,  and  2,  8)  merely 
deprived  her  of  succession  to  the  estate  of  her  parents. 

4  Lex  Saxonum,  vi,  2 :  Si  autem  sine  voluntate  parentum,  puella 
tamen  consentiente,  ducta  fuerit  (uxorem  ducturus)  bis  ccc 
solidos  parentibus  eius  componat.  Lex  Burgundionum :  Add., 
14.  cf.  Edictum  Rotharis,  188:  si  puella  libera  aut  vidua  sine 
voluntate  parentum  ad  maritum  ambulaverit,  liberum  tamen, 
tunc  maritus,  qui  eam  acceperit  uxorem,  componat  pro  anagrip 
solidos  XX  et  propter  faidam  alios  XX. 


Women  among  Germanic  Peoples     83 

The  feeling  of  caste  was  very  strong;  a  woman 
must  not  marry  below  her  station.^  By  a  law 
of  the  Visigoths  she  who  tried  to  marry 
her  own  slave  was  to  be  burned  alive  ^ ;  a"w««- 
if  she  attempted  it  with  another's  bondman,  she 
merited  one  hundred  lashes.  ^  The  dowry  was  a 
fixed  institution  as  among  the  Romans;  but  the 
bridegroom  regularly  paid  a  large  sum  to  the  father 
or  guardian  of  the  woman.  This  wittemon  was 
regarded  as  the  price  paid  for  the  parental  au- 
thority {mundium)  and  amounted  among  the 
Saxons  to  300  solidi.^  As  a  matter  of  fact  this 
custom  practically  amounted  to  the  intended 
husband  giving  the  dowry  to  his  future  wife.  The 
husband  was  also  allowed  to  present  his  wife  with 
a  donation  (morgengahe)  on  the  morning  after  the 

^By  a  law  of  the  Alemanni  (2"t7.,57),if  two  sisters  were  heiresses 
to  a  father's  estate  and  one  married  a  vassal  (colonus)  of  the  King 
or  Church  and  the  other  became  the  wife  of  a  free  man  equal 
to  her  in  rank,  the  latter  only  was  allowed  to  hold  her  father's 
land,  although  the  rest  of  the  goods  were  divided  equally. 

'  Lex  Wisigothorum,  iii,  2,  2. 

3  Ibid.,  iii,  2,  3. 

4  Lex  Saxonum,  vi,  i :  uxorem  ducturus  CCC  solidos  det  parenti- 
bus  eius.  See  also  the  lex  Burgundionum,  66,  i  and  2  and  3. 
In  the  case  of  a  widow  who  married  again  the  gift  of  the  hus- 
band was  called  reiphe  or  reippus  and  very  solemn  ceremonies 
belonged  to  the  giving  of  it  according  to  the  Salic  law.  Tit., 
47:  si,  ut  fieri  adsolet,  homo  moriens  viduam  dimiserit  et  cam 
quis  in  coniugium  voluerit  accipere,  antequam  earn  accipiat 
Tunginus  aut  Centenarius  Mallum  indicent,  et  in  ipso  Malic 
scutum  habere  debet,  et  tres  homines  vel  caussas  mandare.  Et 
tunc  ille,  qui  viduam  accipere  vult,  cum  tribus  testibus  qui 
adprobare  debent,  tres  solidos  aeque  pensantes,  et  denarium 
habere  debet,  etc. 


84        History  of  Women's  Rights 

wedding;  the  amount  was  limited  by  King  Liut- 
prand  to  not  more  than  one  fourth  of  all  his  goods. ' 
Breaking  an  engagement  after  the  solemn  be- 
trothal had  been  entered  into  was  a  serious 
business.  The  Visigoths  refused  to  allow  one  party 
to  break  an  engagement  without  the  consent  of 
the  other;  and  if  a  woman,  being  already  engaged, 
went  over  to  another  man  without  her  parent's 
or  fiance's  leave,  both  she  and  the  man  who  took 
her  were  handed  over  as  slaves  to  the  original 
fiance.  ^  The  other  barbarians  were  content  to 
inflict  a  money  fine  for  breach  of  promise.^ 

The  woman  on  marrying  passed  into  the  power 
of  her  husband  "according  to  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
Powerofthe  turcs,"  and  the  husband  thereupon  ac- 
husband.  quired  the  lordship  of  all  her  property . '^ 
The  law  still  protected  the  wife  in  some  ways. 
The  Visigoths  gave  the  father  the  right  of  demand- 
ing and  preserving  for  his  daughter  her  dowry.  ^ 
The  Ripuarians  ordained  that  whatever  the  hus- 

^  Leges  Liutprandi,  ii,  i. 

"  Lex  Wisigothonim,  iii,  I,  2  and  3,  and  iii,  6,  3. 

3  E.g.,  62  solidi  by  the  Salic  law,  Tit.,  70.  See  also  Lex 
Baiu variorum.  Tit.,  vii,  15  and  16  and  17.     Lex  Alemannorum, 

52,  I ;  53;  54. 

4  Lex  Burgundionum,  Add.  primum,  xiii:  quaecunque  mulier 
Burgundia  vel  Romana  voluntate  sua  ad  maritum  ambulaverit, 
iubemus  ut  maritus  ipse  de  facultate  ipsius  mulieris,  sicut  in 
earn  habet  potestatem,  ita  et  de  rebus  suis  habeat. 

Lex  Wisigothorum,  iv,  2,  15:  Vir  qui  uxorem  suam  secundum 
sacram  scripturam  habet  in  potestate,  similiter  et  in  servis  suis 
potestatem  habebit,  et  omnia  quae  cum  servis  uxoris  suae  vel 
suis  in  expeditione  acquisivit,  in  sua  potestate  permaneant. 

5  Lex  Wisigothorum,  iii.  Tit.  i ,  6. 


Womeft  among  Germanic  Peoples      85 

band  had  given  his  wife  by  written  agreement 
must  remain  inviolate.  ^  King  Liutprand  made 
the  presence  of  two  or  three  of  the  woman's  male 
relatives  necessary  at  any  sale  involving  her  goods, 
to  see  to  it  that  her  consent  to  the  sale  had  not 
been  forced.^ 

On  the  subject  of  divorce  the  regulations  of  the 
several  peoples  are  various ;  but  the  commands  of 
the  New  Testament  are  alike  strongly  felt 
in  all;  and  we  may  expect  to  find  divorce 
limited  by  severe  restrictions.  ^  The  Burgundians 
allowed  it  only  for  adultery  or  grave  crimes,  such 
as  violating  tombs.  If  a  wife  presumed  to  dismiss 
her  husband  for  any  other  cause,  she  was  put  to 
death  {necetur  in  luto) ;  to  a  husband  who  sent  his 
wife  a  divorce  without  these  specific  reasons  exist- 
ing the  law  was  more  indulgent,  allowing  him  to 
preserve  his  life  by  paying  to  his  injured  wife  twice 
the  amount  that  he  had  originally  given  her 
parents  for  her,  and  twelve  solidi  in  addition ;  and 
in  case  he  attempted  to  prove  her  guilty  of  one  of 
the  charges  mentioned  above  and  she  was  ad- 
judged innocent,  he  forfeited  all  his  goods  to  her 
and  was  forced  to  leave  his  home."*     The  Visigoths 

'  Lex  Ripuariorum,  37,  i. 
*  Leges  Liutprandi,  iv,  4. 

3  That  is,  for  the  common  people.  Kings  have  always  had  a 
little  way  of  doing  as  they  pleased.  See  the  anecdote  of  King 
Cusupald  in  Paulus'  Hisi.  Langobard,  i,  21:  secunda  autem  (sc. 
filia  Wacchonis)  dicta  est  Walderada,  quae  sociata  est  Cusupald, 
alio  regi  Francorum,  quam  ipse  odio  habens  uni  ex  suis,  qui 
dicebatur  Garipald,  in  coniugium  tradidit. 

4  For  all  this  see  Lex  Burgundionum,  34,  1-4. 


86        History  of  Women's  Rights 

were  equally  strict ;  the  husband  who  dismissed  his 
wife  on  insufficient  legal  grounds  lost  all  power 
over  her  and  must  return  all  her  goods;  his  own 
must  be  preserved  for  the  children;  if  there  were 
none,  the  wife  acquired  his  property.  A  woman 
who  married  a  divorced  man  while  his  first  wife 
was  living,  was  condemned  for  adultery  and 
accordingly  handed  over  to  the  first  wife  to  be 
disposed  of  as  the  latter  wished;  exile,  stripes,  and 
slavery  were  the  lot  of  a  man  who  took  another 
wife  while  his  first  partner  was  still  alive. '  The 
Alemanni  and  the  Bavarians,  who  were  more 
remote  from  Italy  and  hence  from  the  Church, 
were  influenced  more  by  their  own  customs  and 
allowed  a  pecuniary  recompense  to  take  the  place 
of  the  harsher  enactments.  ^ 

Adultery  was  not  only  a  legal  cause  for  divorce, 
but  also  a  grave  crime.  All  the  barbarian  peoples 
are  agreed  in  so  regarding  it,  but  their 
penalties  vary  according  as  they  were 
more  or  less  affected  by  proximity  to  Italy,  where 
the  power  of  the  Church  was  naturally  strongest. 
The  Ripuarians,  the  Bavarians,  and  the  Alemanni 
preferred  a  money  fine  ranging  from  fifty  to  two 
hundred  solidiJ  Among  the  Visigoths  the  guilty 
party  was  usually  bound  over  in  servitude  to  the 
injured  person  to  be  disposed  of  as  the  latter 

'  For  all  these,  see  Lex  Wisigothorum,  iii,  6,  i  and  2. 

'  Capitula  Addita  ad  Legem  Alemannomm,  30.  Lex  Baiu- 
variorum,  vii,  14. 

3  Lex  Ripuariorum,  Tit.,  35.  Lex  Baiuvariorum,  vii.  Lex 
Alemannomm,  51,  i. 


Women  among  Germanic  Peoples     87 

wished.^  Sometimes  the  law  was  harsher  to 
women  than  to  men;  thus,  according  to  a  decree 
of  Liutprand,  ^  a  husband  who  told  his  wife  to 
commit  adultery  or  who  did  so  himself  paid  a 
mulct  of  fifty  solidi  to  the  wife's  male  relatives; 
but  if  the  wife  consented  to  or  hid  the  deed,  she 
was  put  to  death.  The  laws  all  agree  that  the 
killing  of  adulterers  taken  in  the  act  could  not  be 
regarded  as  murder. 

It  is  always  to  be  remembered  that  although  the 
statutes  were  severe  enough,  yet  during  this  period, 
as  indeed  throughout  all  history,  they  x^e  church 
were  defied  with  impunity.  Charle-  indulgent 
magne,  for  example,  the  most  Christian  ^^^^  *"^^* 
monarch,  had  a  large  number  of  concubines  and 
divorced  a  wife  who  did  not  please  him;  yet  his 
biographer  Einhard,  pious  monk  as  he  was,  has  no 
word  of  censure  for  his  monarch's  irregularities 2; 
and  policy  prevented  the  Church  from  thimdering 
at  a  king  who  so  valiantly  crushed  the  heretics,  her 
enemies.  Bishop  Gregory  of  Tours  tells  us  with- 
out a  hint  of  being  shocked  that  Clothacharius, 
King  of  the  Franks,  had  many  concubines.  ^     Con- 

^  Lex  Wisigothonim,  iii,  6,  I  and  2,  and  iii,  4,  i. 
"  Leges  Liutprandi,  vi,  130. 

3  Einhard,  Vita  Kar.  Mag.,  17:  Deinde  cum  matris  hortatu 
filiam  Desiderii  regis  Langobardorum  duxisset  uxorem,  incertum 
qua  de  causa,  post  annum  eam  repudiavit  et  Hildigardam  de 
gente  Suaborum  praecipuae  nobilitatis  feminam  in  matrimonium 
duxit.  .  .  .  Habuit  et  alias  tres  filias  .  .  .  duas  de 
Fastrada  uxore  .  .  .  tertiam  de  concubina  quadam  .  .  . 
defuncta  Fastrada     .     .     .     tres  habuit  concubinas. 

4  Gregory  of  Tours,  4,  3. 


88        History  of  Women's  Rights 

cubinage  was,  in  fact,  the  regular  thing/  But 
neither  in  that  age,  nor  later  in  the  case  of  Louis 
XIV,  nor  in  our  own  day  in  the  case  of  Leopold  of 
Belgium  has  the  Church  had  a  word  of  reproach 
for  monarchs  who  broke  with  impunity  moral  laws 
on  which  she  claims  always  to  have  insisted  with- 
out compromise. 

In  accordance  with  the  commands  of  Scripture 

neither  the  divorced  man  nor  the  divorced  woman 

could  marry  again  during  the  lifetime 

emamage.    ^^  ^^^  other  party.     To  do  so  was  to 

commit  adultery,  for  which  the  usual  penalties 
went  into  effect. 

A  woman's  property  would  consist  of  any  or 
all  of  these: 

Property  rights  I-  Her  sharc  of  the  property  of 
and  powers,    parents  or  brothers  and  sisters. 

II.  Her  dowry  and  whatever  nuptial  do- 
nations (morgengabe)  her  husband  had  given  her, 
and  whatever  she  had  earned  together  with  her 
husband. 

There  could  be  no  account  of  single  women's 
property  or  disposal  of  what  they  earned,  because 
in  the  half-civilised  state  of  things  which  then 
obtained  there  was  no  such  thing  as  women 
engaging  in  business ;  indeed,  not  even  men  of  any 
pretension  did  so;  war  was  their  work.  The 
immarried  woman  was  content  to  sit  by  the  fire 

^  The  concubines  of  Theodoric — Jordanes,  de  orig.  acti 
busgue  Get.,  58.  Huga,  king  of  the  Franks,  had  a  filium  quern  ex 
concubina  genuit — Widukind,  Res  Gest.  Sax.,  i,  9. 


Women  among  Germanic  Peoples     89 

and  spin  under  the  guardianship  and  support  of  a 
male  relative.  Often  she  would  enter  a  convent. 
I  shall  first  discuss  the  laws  of  inheritance  as 
affecting  women,  in  order  to  note  what  property- 
she  was  allowed  to  acquire.  In  this  connection 
it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  a  difference  between 
Roman  and  Germanic  law.  The  former  viewed 
an  inheritance  as  consisting  always  of  a  totality 
of  all  goods,  whether  of  money,  land,  movables, 
cattle,  dress,  or  what  not.  But  among  the 
Germanic  peoples  land,  money,  ornaments,  and  the 
like  were  regarded  as  so  many  distinct  articles  of 
inheritance,  to  some  of  which  women  might  have 
legal  claims  of  succession,  but  not  necessarily  to 
all.  This  is  most  emphatically  shown  in  the  case 
of  land.  Of  all  the  barbarian  peoples,  the  Ripu- 
arians  alone  allowed  women  the  right  to  succeed 
to  land.  ^  Among  other  nations  a  daughter  or 
sister  or  mother,  whoever  happened  to  be  the 
nearest  heir,  would  get  the  money,  slaves,  etc., 
but  the  nearest  male  kin  would  get  the  land.^ 
Only  if  male  kin  were  lacking  to  the  fifth  degree 
— an  improbable  contingency — did  alodial  in- 
heritance ''pass  from  the  lance  to  the  spindle."^ 

^  Lex  Ripuariorum,  Tit.,  48.  Lex  Angliorum  et  Werinorum, 
vi — de  alodihus,  i:  hereditatem  defuncti  filius,  non  filia  susci- 
piat.  Salic  Law,  Tit.,  62:  de  alodis,  6:  de  terra  vero  Salica  in 
mulierem  nulla  portio  hereditatis  transit,  sed  hoc  virilis  sexus 
adquirat,  hoc  est,  filii  in  ipsa  hereditate  succedunt.  Lex  Saxo- 
num,  vii,  i:  Pater  aut  mater  defuncti  filio,  non  filiae  heredi- 
tatem relinquit. 

=»  Cf.  Lex  Angliorum  et  Werinorum,  vi:  de  alodihus. 

3  Ibid.,  vi,  8:  post  quintam  autem  {sc.  generationem)  filia  ex 


90        History  of  Women's  Rights 

In  respect  to  all  other  things  a  daughter  was  co- 
heir with  a  son  to  the  estate  of  a  father  or  mother. 
According  to  the  Salic  and  Ripuarian  law  this 
would  be  one  order  of  succession  ^ : 

I.  Children  of  the  deceased. 
II.  These  failing,  surviving  mother  or  father 
of  deceased. 

III.  These  failing,  brother  or  sister  of  deceased. 

IV.  These  failing,  sister  of  mother  of  deceased. 
V.  These  failing,  sister  of  father  of  deceased. 

VI.  These  failing,  male  relatives  on  father's  side. 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  such  a  succession  these 
laws  are  more  partial  to  women  relatives  than  the 
Roman  law;  an  aunt,  for  example,  is  called  before 
an  uncle.  An  uncle  would  certainly  exclude  an 
aunt  under  the  Roman  law;  but  most  of  the 
Germanic  codes  allowed  them  an  equal  succession.  ^ 
Nevertheless,  when  women  did  inherit  under 
the  former,  they  acquired  the  land  also.  More- 
over, the  woman  among  the  Germanic  nations 
must  always  be  under  guardianship;  and  whereas 
under  the  Empire  the  power  of  the  guardian  was 
in  practice  reduced  to  nullity,  as  I  have  shown, 
among  the  barbarians  it  was  extremely  powerful, 
because  to  assert  one's  rights  often  involved 
fighting  in  the  lists  to  determine  the  judgment 

toto,  sive  de  patris  sive  de  matris  parte,  in  hereditatem  succedat, 
et  tunc  demum  hereditas  ad  fusum  a  lancea  transeat. 

'  Lex  Salica,  Tit.,  62.     Lex  Ripuariorum,  Tit.y  56. 

3  Cf.  Lex  Wisigothorum,  iv,  2,  7  and  9. 


Women  among  Germanic  Peoples     91 

of  God.  It  was  a  settled  conviction  among  the 
Germanic  peoples  that  God  would  give  the  victory 
to  the  rightful  claimant.  As  women  could  not 
fight,  a  champion  or  guardian  was  a  necessity. 
This  was  not  true  in  Roman  courts,  which  preferred 
to  settle  litigation  by  juristic  reasoning  and  be- 
lieved, like  Napoleon,  that  God,  when  appealed  to 
in  a  fight,  was  generally  on  the  side  of  the  party 
who  had  the  better  artillery. 

Children  inherited  not  only  the  estate  but  also 
the  friendships  and  enmities  of  their  fathers,  which 
it  was  their  duty  to  take  up.  Hereditary  feuds 
were  a  usual  thing. '  King  Liutprand  ordained,^ 
however,  that  if  a  daughter  alone  survived,  the 
feud  was  to  be  brought  to  an  end  and  an  agreement 
effected. 

Some  of  the  nations  seem  to  have  provided 
that  children  must  not  be  disinherited  except  for 
very  strong  reasons;  for  example,  the  law  of  the 
Visigoths^  forbids  more  than  one  third  of  their 
estate  being  alienated  by  mother  or  father, 
grandmother  or  grandfather.  The  Alemanni  per- 
mitted a  free  man  to  leave  all  his  property  to  the 
Church  and  his  heirs  had  no  redress 4;  but  the 
Bavarians  compelled  him  before  entering  monastic 
life  to  distribute  among  his  children  their  pro- 
portionate parts.  5 

*  Tacitus,  Germania,  21. 

*  Legis  Liutprandi,  ii,  7. 

3  Lex  Wisigothorum,  iv,  5,  i. 

*  Lex  Alemannonim,  Tit.,  i. 
s  Lex  Baiuvariomm,  Tit.,  i. 


92        History  of  Women's  Rights 

We  may  pass  now  to  the  property  rights  of  the 
married  woman.  The  relation  of  her  husband 
Property  of  ^^  the  dowry  I  have  already  explained, 
the  married  The  dowry  was  conceived  as  being 
ultimately  for  the  children;  only  when 
there  were  no  children,  grandchildren,  or  great- 
grandchildren did  the  woman  have  licence  to  dis- 
pose of  the  dowry  as  she  wished:  this  was  the  law 
among  the  Visigoths.'  The  dowry,  then,  was 
to  revert  to  the  children  or  grandchildren  at  the 
death  of  the  wife ;  if  there  were  none  such,  to  the 
parents  or  relatives  who  had  given  her  in  marriage ; 
these  failing,  it  escheated  to  the  Crown — so 
according  to  Rotharis.^  By  the  laws  of  the 
Visigoths  ^  when  the  wife  died,  her  husband  con- 
tinued in  charge  of  the  property;  but,  as  under  the 
Roman  law,  he  had  to  preserve  it  entire  for  the 
children,  though  he  might  enjoy  the  usufruct. 
When  a  son  or  daughter  married,  their  father  must 
at  once  give  them  their  share  of  their  mother's 
goods,  although  he  could  still  receive  the  income 
of  one  third  of  the  portion.  If  son  or  daughter 
did  not  marry,  they  received  one  half  their  share 
on  becoming  twenty  years  of  age;  their  father 
might  claim  the  interest  of  the  other  half  while 
he  lived ;  but  at  his  death  he  must  leave  it  to  them. 
When  a  woman  left  no  children,  her  father  or  near- 
est male  kin  usually  demanded  the  dowry  back.  ^ 

^  Lex  Wisigothonim,  iv,  2,  20. 

=»Edictum  Rotharis,  i,  121.        3  Lex  Wisigothonim,  iv,  2,  13. 
*  Cf.  Capitula    addita    ad    legem    Alemannorum,    29.     Lex 
Saxonum,  viii,  2. 


Women  among  Germanic  Peoples     93 

When  the  husband  died,  his  estate  did  not  go  to 
his  wife,  but  to  his  children  or  other  relatives.^ 
If,  however,  any  property  had  been  earned  by  the, 
joint  labour  of  husband  and  wife,  the  latter  had  a 
right  to  one  half  among  the  Westf alians ;  to  one 
third  among  the  Ripuarians ;  to  nothing  among  the 
Ostf alians.^  Children  remained  in  the  power  of 
their  mother  if  she  so  desired  and  provided  she 
remained  a  widow.  A  mother  usually  had  the 
enjoyment  of  her  dowry  until  her  death,  when  she 
must  leave  it  to  her  children  or  to  the  donor  or 
nearest  relative.  ^  If  the  husband  died  without 
issue,  some  nations  allowed  the  wife  a  certain 
succession  to  her  husband's  goods,  provided  that 
she  did  not  marry  again.  Thus,  the  Burgundians 
gave  her  under  such  conditions  one  third  of  her 
husband's  estate  to  be  left  to  his  heirs,  however,  at 
her  death.  4  The  Bavarians,  too,  under  the  same 
conditions  allowed  her  one  half  of  her  husband's 
goods  5  and  even  if  there  was  issue,  granted  her 
the  right  to  the  interest  of  as  much  as  one  child 
received.^ 

A  widow  who  married  again  lost  the  privilege 

'  Cf.  lex  Wisigothorum,  iv,  2,  ii:  maritus  et  uxor  tunc  sibi 
hereditario  iure  succedant,  quando  muUa  affinitas  usque  ad 
septimum  gradum  de  propinquis  eorum  vel  parentibus  inveniri 
poterit.     See  also  Lex  Burgundionum,  14,  i. 

'  Lex  Saxonum,  ix.     Lex  Ripuariorum,  37,  2. 

3  Lex  Saxonum,  viii.  Lex  Wisigothorum,  iv,  3,  3.  Lex  Bur- 
gundionum 85,  I,  and  62,  I. 

"Lex  Burgundionum,  42,  i;  62,  i;  74,  i. 

s  Lex  Baiu variorum,  xiv,  9,  i. 

^  Ibid.,  xiv,  6. 


94        History  of  Women's  Rights 

of  guardianship  over  her  children,  who  thereupon 
passed  to  a  male  relative  of  the  first  husband.  As 
to  the  dowry  of  the  prior  union  the  woman  must 
make  it  over  at  once  to  her  children  according  to 
some  laws  or,  according  to  others,  might  receive 
the  usufruct  during  life  and  leave  it  to  the  children 
of  the  first  marriage  at  her  death.  Any  right  to  the 
property  of  her  first  husband  she  of  course  lost.  ^ 
When  there  was  no  issue  of  the  first  marriage 
then  the  dowry  and  nuptial  donations  could 
usually  follow  her  to  a  second  union. 

Criminal  law  among  these  half  civilised 
nations  could  not  but  be  a  crude  affair.  Their 
Criminal  law  civiHsatiou  was  iu  a  state  of  flux,  and 
pertaining  to  immediate  practical  convenience  was 
the  only  guide.  They  were  content  to 
fix  the  penalties  for  such  outrages  as  murder,  rape, 
insult,  assault,  and  the  like  in  money;  the  Visigoths 
alone  were  more  stringent  in  a  case  of  rape, 
adding  200  lashes  and  slavery  to  the  ravisher  of 
a  free  woman  who  had  accomplished  his  purpose.  ^ 
Some  enactments  which  may  well  strike  us  as 
peculiar  deserve  notice.  For  example,  among  the 
Saxons  the  theft  of  a  horse  or  an  ox  or  anything 
worth  three  solidi  merited  death;  but  murder 
was  atoned  for  by  pecuniary  damages.^     Among 

'  For  all  this,  see  Lex  Burgundionum,  24  and  62  and  74.  Lex 
Wisigothorum,  iv,  Tit.  3.  Lex  Baiuvariorum,  14.  Lex  Aleman- 
norum,  55  and  56. 

"  Lex  Wisigothorum,  iii,  3,  i. 

3  Lex  Saxonum,  iv.  In  the  early  days  when  the  Great  West 
of  the  United  States  was  just  being  opened  up  and  when  society 


Women  among  Germanic  Peoples     95 

the  Burgundians,  if  a  man  stole  horses  or  cattle 
and  his  wife  did  not  at  once  disclose  the  deed, 
she  and  her  children  who  were  over  fourteen  were 
bound  over  in  slavery  to  the  outraged  party  "be- 
cause it  hath  often  been  ascertained,  that  these 
women  are  the  confederates  of  their  husbands  in 
crime."' 

The  most  minute  regulations  prevailed  on  the 
subject  of  injury  to  women.  Under  the  Salic  law^ 
for  instance,  if  a  free  man  struck  a  free  women  on 
the  fingers  or  hand,  he  had  to  pay  fifteen  solidi; 
if  he  struck  her  arm,  thirty  solidi;  if  above  her 
elbow,  thirty-five  solidi;  if  he  hit  her  breast,  forty- 
five  solidi.  The  penalties  for  murdering  a  free 
woman  were  also  elaborated  on  the  basis  of  her 
value  to  the  state  as  a  bearer  of  children.  By  the 
same  Salic  law^  injury  to  a  pregnant  woman 
resulting  in  her  death  merited  a  fine  of  seven 
hundred  solidi;  but  two  hundred  was  deemed 
sufficient  for  murder  of  one  after  her  time 
for  bearing  children  had  passed.  Similarly,  for 
killing  a  free  woman  after  she  had  begun  to 
have  children  the  transgressor  paid  six  hundred 
solidi;  but  for  murdering  an  unmarried  free- 
bom  girl  only  two  hundred.  The  murder 
of  a  free  women  was  punished  usually  by  a  fine 

there  was  in  a  very  crude  state,  a  horse  thief  was  regularly  hanged; 
but  murder  was  hardly  a  fault. 

^  Lex  Burgundionum,  47,  i  and  2.  The  guilty  man  was  put 
to  death. 

"Lex  Salica,  Tit.,  23. 

3  Id.,  Tit.,  28. 


96        History  of  Women's  Rights 

(wergeld)  equal  to  twice  the  amount  demanded 
for  a  free  man  "because,"  as  the  law  of  the  Ba- 
varians has  it,  ^  "a  woman  can  not  defend  herself 
with  arms.  But  if,  in  the  boldness  of  her  heart 
(per  audaciam  cordis  sui),  she  shall  have  resisted 
and  fought  like  a  man,  there  shall  not  be  a  double 
penalty,  but  only  the  recompense  usual  for  a  man 
[i6o  solidiy  Fines  were  not  paid  to  the  state, 
but  to  the  injuried  parties  or,  if  these  did  not 
survive,  to  the  nearest  kin.  If  the  fine  could  not 
be  paid,  then  might  death  be  meted  to  the  guilty.  =* 
Another  peculiar  feature  of  the  Germanic  law 
was  the  appeal  to  God  to  decide  a  moot  point  by 
various  ordeals.  For  example,  by  the  laws  of  the 
Angles  and  Werini,  if  a  woman  was  accused  of 
murdering  her  husband,  she  would  ask  a  male 
relative  to  assert  her  innocence  by  a  solemn  oath^ 
or,  if  necessary,  by  fighting  for  her  as  her  champion 
in  the  lists.  God  was  supposed  to  give  the  victory 
to  the  champion  who  defended  an  innocent  party. 

*  Lex  Baiuvariorum,  Tit.,  xiii,  2. 

*  Cf.  lex  Salica,  Tit.,  61 — a  very  curious  account  of  formalities 
to  be  observed  in  such  a  case. 

3  It  was  deemed  sufficient  for  a  male  relative,  say,  the  father, 
to  assert  the  innocence  of  the  woman  under  solemn  oath:  for 
it  was  thought  that  he  would  be  unwilling  to  do  this  if  he  knew 
the  woman  was  guilty  and  so  incur  eternal  Hell -fire  as  a  punish- 
ment for  perjury.  An  example  of  this  solemn  ceremony  is 
told  interestingly  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  5,  33.  A  woman  at 
Paris  was  charged  by  her  husband's  relatives  with  adultery  and 
was  demanded  to  be  put  to  death.  Her  father  took  a  solemn 
oath  that  she  was  innocent.  Far  from  being  content  with  this, 
the  husband's  kin  began  a  fight  and  the  matter  ended  in  a  whole- 
sale butchery  at  the  church  of  St.  Dionysius. 


Women  among  Germanic  Peoples     97 

If  she  could  find  no  champion,  she  was  permitted  to 
walk  barefoot  over  nine  red-hot  ploughshares^; 
and  if  she  was  innocent,  God  would  not,  of  course, 
allow  her  to  suffer  any  injury  in  the  act. 

Perhaps  a  word  on  the  status  of  women  in 
slavery  among  the  Germanic  nations  will  not  be 
out  of  place.  The  new  nations  looked  women  in 
upon  a  slave  as  a  chattel,  much  as  the  slavery. 
Romans  did.  If  a  wrong  was  done  a  slave  woman, 
her  master  received  a  recompense  from  the 
aggressor,  but  she  did  not,  for  to  hold  property 
was  denied  her.  But  we  may  well  believe  that  the 
great  value  which  the  Church  put  on  chastity 
and  conjugal  fidelity  rendered  the  slave  woman 
less  exposed  to  the  brutal  passions  of  her  lord 
than  had  been  the  case  under  the  Empire.  Thus, 
by  a  law  of  King  Liutprand,  a  master  who  com- 
mitted adultery  with  the  wife  of  a  slave  was 
compelled  to  free  both^;  and  the  Visigoths^  in- 
flicted fifty  lashes  and  a  fine  of  twenty  solidi  upon 
the  man  who  used  violence  to  another  man's  slave 
woman. 

On  comparing  the  position  of  women  under 
Roman  law  and  under  the  Germanic  nations,  as 
we  have  observed  them  thus  far,  we  should  note 
first  of  all  that  under  the  latter  women  benefited 
chiefly  by  the  insistence  of  the  Church  on  the  value 

'  Lex  Angliorum  et  Werinorum,  xiv:  aut  si  campionem  non 
habuerit,  ipsa  ad  novem  vomeres  ignitos  examinanda  mittatur. 
*  Leges  Liutprandi,  vi,  140. 
3  Lex  Wisigothorum,  iii,  4,  16. 
7 


98        History  of  Women's  Rights 

of  chastity  in  both  sexes.  That  in  those  days  the 
passions  of  men  were  difficult  to  restrain  in  practice 
does  not  invalidate  the  real  service  done  the 
world  by  the  ideal  that  was  insisted  upon,^  an 
ideal  which  was  certainly  not  held  in  pagan 
antiquity  except  by  a  few  great  minds.  Although 
the  social  position  of  woman  was  thus  improved, 
the  character  of  the  age  and  the  sentiments  of  the 
Bible  which  I  have  already  quoted  made  her  status 
far  inferior  to  her  condition  under  Roman  law  so 
far  as  her  legal  rights  were  concerned.  In  a 
period^  when  the  assertion  of  one's  rights  con- 
stantly demanded  fighting,  the  woman  was  forced 
to  rely  on  the  male  to  champion  her;  the  Church, 
in  accordance  with  the  dicta  of  the  Apostles,  en- 
couraged and  indeed  commanded  her  to  confine 
herself  to  the  duties  of  the  household,  to  leave  legal 
matters  to  men,  and  to  be  guided  by  their  advice ; 
and  thus  she  was  prevented  from  asserting  herself 
out  of  regard  for  the  strong  public  opinion  on  the 
subject,  which  was  quite  alien  to  the  sentiments 
of  the  old  Roman  law.  Henceforward  also  we 
are  to  have  law  based  on  old  customs  and  theology,  ^ 
not  on  practical  convenience  or  scientific  reasoning. 

^  See  the  interesting  story  of  the  girl  who  slew  Duke  Amalo, 
as  narrated  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  9,  27. 

^  The  bloody  nature  of  the  times  is  depicted  naively  by  Greg- 
ory, Bishop  of  Tours,  who  wrote  the  history  of  the  Franks. 
See,  e.g.,  the  stories  of  Ingeltrudis,  Rigunthis,  Waddo,  Amalo, 
etc.,  in  Book  9.     Gregory  was  born  in  539. 

3  Corpus  luris  Canonici  (Friedberg),  vol.  i,  p.  i,  Distinctio 
Prima :  ius  naturae  est  quod  in  lege  et  evangelio  continetur.      j 


Women  among  Germanic  Peoples     99 

SOURCES 

I.  Corpus  luris  Germanici  Antiqui:  edidit  Ferd.  Walter. 
Berolini — impensis  G.  Reimeri,  1824.     3  vols. 

II.  C.  lulii  Caesaris  Commentarii  de  Bello  Gallico:  re- 
cognovit  Geo.  Long.  Novi  Eboraci  apud  Harperos  Fratres. 
1883. 

III.  Cornelii  Taciti  libri  qui  supersunt:  quartum  recognovit 
Carolus  Halm.  Lipsiae  (Teubner),  1901. 

IV.  Sancti  Georgii  Florentii  Gregorii,  Episcopi  Turonensis, 
Historiae  Ecclesiasticae  Francorum  libri  decern:  edidit  J. 
Guadet  et  N.  R.  Taranne.  Parisiis,  apud  Julium  Renouard  et 
Socios,  1838. 

V.  lordanis  de  Origine  Actibusque  Getorum:  edidit  Alfred 
Holder.  Freiburg  und  Tubingen;  Verlagsbuchhandlung  von  J. 
C.  B.  Mohr. 

VI.  Widukindi  Rerum  Gestarum  Saxonicarum  libri  tres. 
Accedit  libellus  de  Origine  Gentis  Suevorum.  Editio  quarta: 
post  Georgium  Waitz  recognovit  Karolus  A.  Kehr.  Hannoverae 
et  Lipsiae  Impensis  Bibliopolii  Hahniani,  1904. 

VII.  Procopii  Caesariensis  opera  omnia:  recognovit  Jacobus 
Haury.  Lipsiae.  (Teubner).  1905. 

VIII.  Einhardi  Vita  Karoli  Magni.  Editio  quinta.  Post 
G.  H.  Pertz  recensuit  G.  Waitz.     Hannoverae  et  Lipsiae,  1905. 

IX.  Pauli  Historia  Langobardorum:  edidit  Georg  Waitz. 
Hannoverae,  impensis  Bibliopolii  Hahniani,  1878. 


CHAPTER  V 

DIGRESSION  ON  THE  LATER  HISTORY  OF 
ROMAN  LAW 

WITH  Charlemagne,  who  was  crowned  Em- 
peror by  the  Pope  in  the  year  800,  began 
the  definite  union  of  Church  and  State  and  the 
Church's  temporal  power.  Henceforth  for  seven 
centuries,  until  the  Reformation,  we  shall  have 
to  reckon  with  canon  law  as  a  supreme  force  in 
determining  the  question  of  the  position  of 
women.  A  brief  survey  of  the  later  history  of 
the  old  Roman  Law  will  not  be  out  of  place  in 
order  to  note  what  influence,  if  any,  it  continued 
to  exert  down  the  ages. 

The  body  of  the  Roman  law,  compiled  by 
order  of  Justinian  (527-565  A.D.),  was  intended 
primarily  for  the  eastern  empire;  but  when,  in  the 
year  535,  the  Emperor  conquered  the  western 
Goths,  who  then  ruled  Italy,  he  ordered  his  laws 
taught  in  the  school  of  jurisprudence  at  Rome 
and  practiced  in  the  courts.  I  have  already  re- 
marked that  the  barbarians  who  overran  Italy 
allowed  the  vanquished  the  right  to  be  judged  in 
most  cases  by  their  own  code.  But  the  splendid 
fabric  of  the  Roman  law  was  too  elaborate   a 

100 


Later  History  of  Roman  Law     loi 

system  to  win  the  attentive  study  of  a  rude 
people ;  the  Church  had  its  own  canons,  the  people 
their  own  ancestral  customs ;  and  until  the  twelfth 
century  no  development  of  the  Roman  Civil  Code 
took  place.  Finally,  during  the  twelfth  century, 
the  great  school  at  Bologna  renewed  the  study 
with  vigour,  and  Italy  at  the  present  day  derives 
the  basic  principles  of  its  civil  law  from  the  Corpus 
of  Justinian.  Practically  the  same  story  holds 
true  of  France,  ^  of  Spain,  and  of  the  Netherlands, 
all  of  whom  have  been  influenced  particularly  by 
the  great  jurists  of  the  sixteenth  century  who  were 
simply  carrying  further  the  torch  that  had  been 
lit  so  enthusiastically  at  Bologna  in  the  twelfth 
century. 

As  to  Germany,''  when  that  unhappy  country 
had  been  separated  from  France  and  Italy  after 
the  Treaty  of  Verdun  in  843,  Carlo vingian  law  and 
the  ancient  German  law  books  fell  into  disuse. 
The  law  again  rested  on  unwritten  customs,  on 
the  decisions  of  the  judges  and  their  assessors,  and 
on  agreements  of  the  interested  parties  (feudal 
services  and  tenures).  Not  till  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries  was  any  record  made  of 
the  rules  of  law  which  had  arisen;  many  laws  of 
cities  on  various  matters  and  in  various  provinces 
were   recorded   by   public    authority;    and    thus 

*  French  customary  law  began  to  be  written  in  the  thirteenth 
century  and  was  greatly  affected  by  the  Roman  law. 

'  The  succeeding  paragraphs  are  a  summary  of  the  account  by 
the  learned  Professor  Mackeldey,  who  has  investigated  Roman 
law  with  the  most  minute  diligence. 


102      History  of  Women's  Rights 

originated  the  so-called  law  books  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  the  private  labours  of  experienced  men,  who 
set  forth  the  legal  principles  which  were  recognised 
in  all  Germany,  or  at  least  in  certain  parts  of  it. 
There  were  no  law  schools  as  yet,  and  scientific 
compilation  of  German  law  was  not  even  thought 
of.  After  the  University  of  Bologna  had  revived 
the  study  of  Roman  law  in  Italy,  the  Italian 
universities  attracted  the  German  youth,  who  on 
their  return  would  labour  to  introduce  what  they 
had  learned.  Their  efforts  were  seconded  by  the 
clergy,  through  the  close  connection  with  canon 
law  which  was  in  force  in  Germany.  German 
emperors  and  territorial  lords  also  favoured  Roman 
law  because  they  saw  how  well  suited  it  was  to 
absolutism;  they  liked  to  engage  jurists  trained 
in  Italy,  especially  if  they  were  doctors  of  both 
canon  and  Roman  law.  Nor  did  the  German 
people  object.  From  the  fourteenth  century 
many  schools  of  jurisprudence  were  established 
on  Italian  models. 

At  present,  the  law  of  Justinian  has  only  such 
force  as  is  received  by  usage  or  as  it  has  acquired  by 
recognition.  I.  The  Roman  law  forms  in  Ger- 
many the  principal  law  in  some  branches,  that  is, 
it  is  in  so  far  its  basis  that  the  German  law  is 
only  an  addition  or  modification  of  it.  In  other 
branches  it  is  only  supplementary,  that  is,  it  is 
merely  subsidiary  to  the  German  law.  II.  Only 
the  glossed  parts  and  passages  of  Justinian's 
law  collection  have  binding  force  in  Germany. 


Later  History  of  Roman  Law     103 

III.  Only  those  glossed  passages  are  binding 
which  contain  the  latest  rule  of  law.  Conse- 
quently the  historical  materials  contained  in  them, 
though  always  of  great  importance  for  discovering 
the  latest  law,  have  not  binding  force.  IV.  Those 
precepts  of  the  Roman  law  which  relate  to  Roman 
manners  and  institutions  unknown  in  Germany  are 
inapplicable  here,  though  glossed.  V.  The  Ro- 
man law  has  but  slight  application  to  such  objects 
and  transactions  as  were  unknown  to  the  Romans 
and  are  of  purely  Germanic  origin.  VI.  With 
the  limitations  above  enumerated  the  Roman  law 
has  been  adopted  as  a  whole  and  not  in  detached 
parts. 

In  England  Roman  law  has  had  practically 
no  effect.  In  the  year  1149  a  Lombard  jurist, 
Vacarius,  lectured  on  it  at  Oxford ;  but  there  were 
no  results.  Canon  law  is,  of  course,  a  force  to  be 
reckoned  with  in  Britain  as  on  the  Continent. 

Before  we  enter  the  question  of  women's  rights 
during  the  Middle  Ages,  we  must  take  a  general 
survey  of  the  character  of  that  period;  for  obvi- 
ously we  cannot  understand  its  legislation  without 
some  idea  of  the  background  of  social,  political, 
and  intellectual  life.  In  the  first  place,  then,  the 
Church  was  everywhere  triumphant  and  its 
ideals  governed  legislation  completely  on  such 
matters  as  marriage.  The  civil  law  of  Rome,  as 
drawn  up  first  by  the  epitomisers  and  later  studied 
more    carefully  at  Bologna,    served  to  indicate 


104      History  of  Women's  Rights 

general  principles  in  cases  to  which  canon  law 
did  not  apply ;  but  there  was  little  jurisdiction  in 
which  the  powers  ecclesiastical  could  not  contrive 
to  take  a  hand.  At  the  same  time  Germanic 
ideals  and  customs  continued  a  powerful  force. 
For  a  long  time  after  the  partition  of  the  vast 
empire  of  Charlemagne  government  was  in  a  state 
of  chaos  and  transition  from  which  eventually  the 
various  distinct  states  arose.  A  struggle  between 
kings  and  nobles  for  supremacy  dragged  along 
for  many  generations;  and  as  during  that  contest 
each  feudal  lord  was  master  in  his  own  domain, 
there  was  no  consistent  code  of  laws  for  all  coun- 
tries or,  indeed,  for  the  same  country.  Yet  the 
character  of  the  age  determined  in  a  general  way 
the  spirit  that  dictated  all  laws.  Society  rested 
on  a  military  and  aristocratic  basis,  and  when 
the  ability  to  wield  arms  is  essential  to  maintain 
one's  rights,  the  position  of  women  will  be  affected 
by  that  fact.  Beginning  with  the  twelfth  century 
city  life  began  to  exert  a  political  influence;  and 
this,  again,  did  not  fail  to  have  an  effect  on  the 
status  of  women.  Of  any  participation  of  wo- 
men in  intellectual  life  there  could  be  no  question 
until  the  Renaissance,  although  we  do  meet  here 
and  there  with  isolated  exceptions,  a  few  ladies  of 
high  degree  like  Roswitha  of  Gandersheim  and 
Hadwig,  Duchess  of  Swabia,  niece  of  Otto  the 
Great,  and  Heloise.  The  learning  was  exclusively 
scholastic,  and  from  any  share  in  that  women  were 
barred.     When  people  are  kept  in  ignorance,  there 


Later  History  of  Roman  Law     105 

is  less  inducement  for  them  to  believe  that  they 
have  any  rights  or  to  assert  them  if  they  do 
think  so. 

We  shall  do  well  to  bear  in  mind,  in  noting  the 
laws  relative  to  women,  that  theory  is  one  thing 
and  practice  quite  another.  Hence,  although  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  on  various  matters  touch- 
ing the  female  sex  were  characterised  by  the 
greatest  purity,  we  shall  see  that  in  practice  they 
were  not  strictly  executed.  Religion  does  in  fact 
play  a  less  considerable  part  in  regulating  the 
daily  acts  of  men  than  theologians  are  inclined  to 
believe.  If  anything  proves  this,  it  is  the  history  of 
that  foulest  stain  on  Christian  nations — prostitu- 
tion. We  might  expect  that  since  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  insists  so  on  chastity  the  level 
of  this  virtue  would  certainly  be  higher  in  countries 
which  are  almost  exclusively  Catholic,  like  Spain 
and  Italy,  than  in  Protestant  lands;  but  no  one 
who  has  ever  travelled  in  Spain  or  Italy  fails  to 
recognise  that  the  conduct  of  men  is  as  lamenta- 
bly low  in  these  as  in  England,  Germany,  or  the 
United  States. 

With  this  brief  introduction  I  shall  proceed  next 
to  explain  the  position  of  women  under  the  canon 
law,  a  code  which  affected  all  countries  of  Europe 
equally  until  the  Reformation;  and  in  connection 
with  this  I  shall  give  some  idea  of  the  attitude  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  towards  women  and 
women's  rights  at  the  present  day. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   CANON  LAW  AND   THE  ATTITUDE  OF  THE 
ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

THE  canon  law  reaffirms  woman's  subjection  to 
man  in  no  uncertain  terms.  The  wife  must 
The  canon  be  submissivc  and  obedient  to  her  hus- 
Ihlsubfec^on  ^and.^  She  must  never,  under  penalty 
of  women,  of  cxcommunication,  cut  off  her  hair, 
because  "God  has  given  it  to  her  as  a  veil  and 
as  a  sign  of  her  subjection."  ^  A  woman  who 
assumed  men's  garments  was  accursed 3;  it  will  be 
remembered  that  the  breaking  of  this  law  was 
one  of  the  charges  which  brought  Joan  of  Arc 
to  the  stake.     However  learned  and  holy,  woman 

^  Augustine  quoted  by  Gratian,  Causa,  33,  Quaest.  5,  chapters 
12-16 — Friedberg,  i,  pp.  1254,  1255.  Ambrose  and  Jerome  on 
the  same  matter,  ibid.,  c.  15  and  17,  Friedberg,  i,  p.  1255. 
Gratian,  Causa  ^^o,  Quaest.  5,  c.  7 — Friedberg,  i,  p.  1106:  Feminae 
dum  maritantur,  ideo  velantur,  ut  noverint  se  semper  viris  suis 
subditas  esse  et  humiles. 

^  Gratian,  Distinctio,  30,  c.  2 — Friedberg,  i,  p.  107:  Quecumque 
mulier,  religioni  iudicans  convenire,  comam  sibi  amputaverit 
quam  Deus  ad  velamen  eius  et  ad  memoriam  subiectionis  illi 
dedit,  tanquam  resolvens  ius  subiectionis,  anathema  sit.  Cf. 
Gratian,  Causa,  15,  Quaest.  3 — Friedberg,  i,  p.  750. 

3  Gratian,  Dist.,  30,  c.  6,  Friedberg,  i,  p.  108.  See  also  Deu- 
teronomy xxii,  5. 

106 


The  Canon  Law  107 

must  never  presume  to  teach  men  publicly.' 
She  was  not  allowed  to  bring  a  criminal  action 
except  in  cases  of  high  treason  or  to  avenge  the 
death  of  near  relatives.''  Parents  could  dedicate 
a  daughter  to  God  while  she  was  yet  an  infant; 
and  this  parental  vow  bound  her  to  the  nunnery 
when  she  was  mature,  whether  she  was  willing  or 
not.  3  Virgins  or  widows  who  had  once  consecrated 
themselves  to  God  might  not  marry  under  pain  of 
excommunication.  4  Parents  could  not  prevent  a 
daughter  from  taking  vows,  if  she  so  wished,  after 
she  had  attained  the  age  of  twelve.  ^ 

The  most  important  effect  of  the  canon  law 
was  on  marriage,  which  was  now  a  sac-  women  and 
rament  and  had  its  sanction  not  in  ™  under 
the  laws  of  men,  but  in  the  express  de- 


canon  law. 


^  Gratian,  Dist.,  23,  c.  29 — Friedberg,  i,  p.  86:  Mulier,  quamvis 
docta  et  sancta,  viros  in  conventu  docere  non  praesumat. 
*  Id.,  Causa,  15,  Quaest.  3 — Friedberg,  i,  p.  750. 

3  Id.,  Causa,  20,  Quaest.  i,  c.  2 — Friedberg,  i,  pp.  843-844, 
quoting  Gregory  to  Augustine,  the  Bishop  of  the  Angles:  Ad- 
didistis  adhuc,  quod  si  pater  vel  mater  filium  filiamve  intra  septa 
monasterii  in  infantiae  annis  sub  regulari  tradiderunt  disciplina, 
utrum  liceat  eis,  postquam  ad  pubertatis  inoleverint  annos, 
egredi,  et  matrimonio  copulari.  Hoc  omnino  devitamus,  quia 
nefas  est  ut  oblatis  a  parentibus  Deo  filiis  voluptatis  frena  re- 
laxentur.  Id.,  c.  4 — Fried.,  i,  p.  844:  quoting  Isidore — quicumque 
a  parentibus  propriis  in  monasterio  fuerit  delegatus,  noverit  se 
ibi  perpetuo  mansurum.  Nam  Anna  Samuel  puerum  suum 
natum  et  ablactatum  Deo  pietate  obtulit.  Id.,  c.  7 — Fried.,  i, 
pp.  844-845. 

4  Gratian,  DisL,  27,  c.  4  et  9,  and  Disk,  28,  c.  12 — Friedberg,  i, 
pp.  99  and  104.  Id.,  Causa,  27,  Quaest.  1,  c.i  and  7 — Friedberg, 
i,  pp.  1047  and  1050. 

5  Gratian,  Causa,  20,  Quaest.  2,  c.  2 — Friedberg,  i,  pp.  847-848, 


io8       History  of  Women's  Rights 

crees  of  God.  Hence  even  engagements  acquired 
a  sacred  character  unknown  to  the  Roman  law; 
and  when  a  betrothal  had  once  been  entered  into, 
it  could  be  broken  only  in  case  one  or  both 
of  the  contracting  parties  desired  to  enter  a 
monastery.^  Free  consent  of  both  man  and 
woman  was  necessary  for  matrimony.  ="  There 
must  also  be  a  dowry  and  a  public  ceremony.^ 
The  legitimate  wife  is  thus  defined ^i  ''A  chaste 
virgin,  betrothed  in  chastity,  dowered  according  to 
law,  given  to  her  betrothed  by  her  parents,  and 
received  from  the  hands  of  the  bridesmaids  [a 
paranimphis  accipienda];  she  is  to  be  taken 
according  to  the  laws  and  the  Gospel  and  the 
marriage  ceremony  must  be  public;  all  the  days 
of  her  life — tmless  by  consent  for  brief  periods  to 

^  Cf.  Council  of  Trent,  Session  24,  "On  the  Sacrament  of 
Matrimony,"  Canon  6:  "If  anyone  shall  say  that  matrimony 
contracted  but  not  consummated  is  not  dissolved  by  the  solemn 
profession  of  religion  by  one  of  the  parties  married:  let  him  be 
anathema." 

Gratian,  Causa,  27,  Qimest.  ii,  c.  28 — Fried.,  i,  p.  1071.  Id.,  c. 
46.  47.  50,  51— Fried.,  i,  pp.  1076,  1077,  1078. 

2  Gratian,  Causa,  30,  Quaest.  2 — Fried.,  i,  p.  11 00;  Ubi  non  est 
consensus  utriusque,  non  est  coniugium.  Ergo  qui  pueris  dant 
puellas  in  cunabulis  et  e  converso,  nihil  faciunt,  nisi  uterque 
puerorum  postquam  venerit  ad  tempus  discretionis  consentiat, 
etiamsi  pater  et  mater  hoc  fecerint  et  voluerint.  Id.  Causa,  31, 
Quaest.  2 — Fried.,  i,  1112-1114:  sine  libera  voluntate  nulla  est 
copulanda  alicui. 

3  Gratian,  Causa,  30,  Quaest.  5,  c.  6 — Friedberg,  i,  p.  1106:  Nul- 
lum sine  dote  fiat  coniugium;  iuxta  possibilitatem  fiat  dos,  nee 
sine  publicis  nuptiis  quisquam  nubere  vel  uxorem  ducere  prae- 
sumat. 

4  Gratian,  Causa,  30,  Quaest.  5,  c.  4 — Friedberg,  i,  p.  1105. 


The  Canon  Law  /  109 

devote  to  worship — she  is  never  to  be  separated 
from  her  husband ;  for  the  cause  of  adultery  she  is 
to  be  dismissed,  but  while  she  lives  her  husband 
may  marry  no  other."  The  blessing  of  the  priest 
was  necessary.  About  every  form  connected  with 
the  marriage  service  the  Church  threw  its  halo  of 
mystery  and-  symbol  to  emphasise  the  sacred 
character  of  the  union.  Thus^:  '*  Women  are 
veiled  during  the  marriage  ceremony  for  this 
reason,  that  they  may  know  they  are  lowly  and 
in  subjection  to  their  husbands.  ...  A  ring  is 
given  by  the  bridegroom  to  his  betrothed  either 
as  a  sign  of  mutual  love  or  rather  that  their  hearts 
may  be  bound  together  by  this  pledge.  For  this 
reason,  too,  the  ring  is  worn  on  the  fourth  finger, 
because  there  is  a  certain  vein  in  that  finger  which 
they  say  reaches  to  the  heart." 

Clandestine  marriages  were  forbidden,^  but  the 
Church  always  presumed  everything  it  could  in 
favour  of  marriage  and  its  indissolubility,  clandestine 
Thus,  Gratian  remarks^:  "Clandestine  """"^g^^- 
marriages  are,  to  be  sure,  contrary  to  law;  never- 
theless, they  can  not  be  dissolved."  The  reason 
for  forbidding  them  was  perfectly  reasonable: 
one  party  might  change  his  or  her  mind  and  there 
would  be  no  positive  proof  that  a  marriage  had 
taken  place,  so  that  a  grave  injury  might  be  in- 
flicted on  an  innocent  partner  by  an  unscrupulous 

*  Gratian,  Causa,  30,  Quaest.  5,  c.  7 — Friedberg,  i,  p.  1106. 

*  Id.,  c.  I — Friedberg,  i,  p.  1104. 
» Id.,  c.  8 — Friedberg,  i,  p.  1107. 


no      History  of  Women's  Rights 

one  who  desired  to  dissolve  the  union.  ^  Yet  the 
marriage  by  consent  alone  without  any  of  the 
ceremonies  or  the  blessing  of  the  priest  was 
perfectly  valid,  though  not  "according  to  law" 
(legitimum) ,  and  could  not  be  dissolved.^  Not 
until  the  great  Coimcil  of  Trent  in  1563  was  this 
changed.  At  that  time  all  marriages  were  de- 
clared invalid  unless  they  had  been  contracted  in 
the  presence  of  a  priest  and  two  or  three  witnesses.  ^ 
The  Church  is  seen  in  its  fairest  light  in  its 
provisions  to  protect  the  wife  from  sexual  brutality 
Protection  to  o^  the  part  of  her  husband,  and  it 
women.  dcscrvcs  high  praise  for  its  stand  on 
such  matters.  4  Various  other  laws  show  the  same 
regard  for  the  interests  of  women.  A  man  who  was 
entering  priestly  office  could  not  cast  off  his  wife 
and  leave  her  destitute,  but  must  provide  living 
and  raiment  for  her.^  Neither  husband  nor  wife 
could  embrace  the  celibate  life  nor  devote  them- 
selves to  continence  without  the  consent  of  the 
other.  ^    A  man  who  cohabited  with  a  woman  as  his 

»  Gratian,  Causa,  30,  Quaest.  5,  c.  9 — Friedberg,  i,  p.  1107. 

2  Gratian,  Causa,  28,  Quaest.  \,c.  17 — Friedberg,  i,  p.  1089:  illo- 
rum  vero  coniugia,  qui  contemptis  omnibus  illis  solempnitatibus 
solo  affectu  aliquam  sibi  in  coniugem  copulant,  huiuscemodi 
coniugium  non  legitimum,  sed  ratum  tantummodo  esse  creditur. 

3  Sessio  xxiv,  cap.  i — De  Reformatione  Matrimonii. 

"See  Gratian,  Dist.,  v,  c.  4 — Friedberg,  i,  p.  8,  e.  g.,  .  .  . 
ita  ut  morte  lex  sacra  feriat,  si  quis  vir  ad  menstruam  mulierem 
accedat. 

s  Gratian,  Dist.,  31,  c.  11 — Friedberg,  i,  p.  114. 

<>  Gratian,  Causa,  27,  Quaest.  2,  c.  18-22,  and  24-26 — Fried- 
berg i,  pp.  1 067-1 070. 


The  Canon  Law  iii 

concubine,  even  though  she  was  of  servile  condition 
or  questionable  character,  could  not  dismiss  her 
and  marry  another  saving  for  adultery.^  Slaves 
were  now  allowed  to  contract  marriages  and 
masters  were  not   permitted  to  dissolve  them.^ 

It  has  always  been  and  still  is  the  boast  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  that  it  has  been  the 
supreme  protector  of  women  on  account 
of  its  stand  on  divorce.  Says  Cardinal 
Gibbons^:  "Christian  wives  and  mothers,  what 
gratitude  you  owe  to  the  Catholic  Church  for  the 
honorable  position  you  now  hold  in  society!  If 
you  are  no  longer  regarded  as  the  slave,  but  the 
equal,  of  your  husbands ;  if  you  are  no  longer  the 
toy  of  his  caprice,  and  liable  to  be  discarded  at  any 
moment ;  but  if  you  are  recognised  as  the  mistress 
and  queen  of  your  household,  you  owe  your  eman- 
cipation to  the  Church.  You  are  especially  in- 
debted for  your  liberty  to  the  Popes  who  rose  up 
in  all  the  majesty  of  their  spiritual  power  to  vin- 
dicate the  rights  of  injured  wives  against  the  lust- 
ful tyranny  of  their  husbands."  In  view  of  such  a 
claim  I  may  be  justified  in  entering  a  somewhat 
more  detailed  account  of  this  subject. 

On  the  subject  of  divorce  the  Roman  Catholic 

Church  took  the  decided  position  which  it  continues 

to  maintain  at  the  present  day.     Marriage  when 

'  Gratian,  Dist.,  34,  c.  4 — Fried  berg,  i,  p.  126.     Id.,  Causa,  29, 
Quaest.  i — Friedberg,  i,  p.  1092.  Id.,  Causa,  29,  Quaest.  2,  c.  2. 

2  Id.,  Causa,  29,  Quaest.  2,  c.  i  and  8. 

3  "Divorce,"  by  James  Cardinal  Gibbons,   in  the    Century, 
May,  1909. 


112      History  of  Women's  Rights 

entered  upon  under  all  the  conditions  demanded 
by  the  Church  for  a  valid  union  is  indissoluble.^ 
A  separation  "from  bed  and  board"  {quoad 
thorum  seu  quoad  cohahitationem)  is  allowed 
for  various  causes,  such  as  excessive  cruelty,  for 
a  determinate  or  an  indeterminate  period;  but 
there  is  no  absolute  divorce  even  for  adultery. 
For  this  cause  a  separation  may,  indeed,  take 
place,  but  the  bond  of  matrimony  is  not  dissolved 
thereby  and  neither  the  innocent  nor  the  guilty 
party  may  marry  again  during  the  lifetime  of  the 
other  partner. 

All  this  seems  pretty  rigorous;  but  in  actual 
practice  the  Church  makes  its  protection  of  the 
wife  void  in  certain  instances  by  its  insistence  on 
two  special  doctrines:  "diriment  impediments" 
and  "dispensations."  In  former  times,  there  was 
a  third  cause  for  the  dissolution  of  marriage — 
"spiritual  fornication." 

By  the  doctrine  of  "  diriment  impediments"  the 
Pope  or  a  duly  constituted  representative  of  his 
can  declare  that  a  marriage  has  been  null  and  void 
from  the  very  beginning  because  of  some  impedi- 
ment defined  in  the  canon  law.  Canon  IV  of  the 
twenty-fourth  session  of  the  Council  of  Trent 
anathematises  any  one  who  shall  say  that  the 
Church  cannot  constitute  impediments  dissolving 
marriage,  or  that  she  has  erred  in  constituting 

^  For  this  and  what  immediately  follows,  see  Session  24,  of 
the  Council  of  Trent  "On  the  Sacrament  of  Matrimony"  and 
also  the  Catholic  Encyclopedia  under  "Divorce." 


The  Canon  Law  113 

them.  The  impediments  which  can  annul  mar- 
riage and  leave  the  parties  free  to  marry  again 
are  chiefly  affinity  and  consanguinity.  Affinity 
"is  a  relationship  arising  from  the  carnal  inter- 
course of  a  man  and  a  woman,  sufficient  for  the 
generation  of  children,  whereby  the  man  becomes 
related  to  the  woman's  blood  relatives  and  the 
woman  to  the  man's." ^  Consanguinity  is  ** blood 
relationship  or  the  natural  bond  between  persons 
descended  from  the  same  stock"  and  is  a  "diriment 
impediment"  to  the  fourth  degree.  The  minute 
and  far-fetched  subtleties  which  the  Church  has 
employed  in  the  interpretation  of  these  relation- 
ships make  escape  from  the  marital  tie  feasible  for 
the  man  who  is  eager  to  disencumber  himself  of 
his  life's  partner. 

The  Church  furthermore  grants  a  decree  of 
nullity  for  "spiritual  kinship"  which  exists,  for 
example,  when  a  man  marries  a  woman  whose 
father  stood  as  his  godfather  at  baptism.^ 
Moreover,  the  Church  regards  as  dissoluble  the 
marriage  of  all  unbaptised  persons;  it  is  divided 
on  the  question  of  the  validity  of  baptisms  not 
administered    by  itself.      A    Catholic    husband, 

^  For  this  and  the  following,  see  the  Catholic  Encyclopedia 
under  "Affinity,"  "Consanguinity,"  and  "Diriment  Impedi- 
ment." 

^  Even  if  a  man  and  a  woman  have  merely  promised  that  they 
will  become  husband  and  wife  a  quasi  affinity  has  been  estab- 
lished; and  one  who  has  been  engaged  once  or  twice  will  have  a 
hard  time  to  avoid  the  hosts  of  relatives  he  or  she  has  won  by 
his  or  her  thoughtlessness. 


114      History  of  Women's  Rights 

whose  wife  has  not  been  baptised  or  has  been 
baptised  by  a  non-Roman,  can  have  his  mar- 
riage declared  null  and  void  and  may  marry 
again. 

Under  the  canon  law,  even  more  resources  are 
open  for  the  man  who  is  tired  of  his  wife;  by 
the  doctrine,  namely,  of  "spiritual  fornication." 
Adultery  is,  of  course,  recognised  as  the  cause  that 
admits  a  separation.  But  the  canon  law  remarks 
that  idolatry  and  all  harmful  superstition — by 
which  is  meant  any  doctrine  that  does  not  agree 
with  that  of  the  Church — is  fornication;  that 
avarice  is  also  idolatry  and  hence  fornication ;  that 
in  fact  no  vice  can  be  separated  from  idolatry 
and  hence  all  vices  can  be  classed  as  fornication; 
so  that  if  a  husband  only  tried  a  little  bit,  he 
could  without  much  trouble  find  some  "vice"  in 
his  wife  that  would  entitle  him  to  a  separation. ' 

When  all  these  fail,  recourse  can  be  had  to  a 
dispensation.  The  Church  reserves  the  right  to 
give  dispensations  for  all  impediments.  Canon  III 
of  the  twenty-fourth  session  of  Trent  says:  "If 

^  Gratian,  Causa,  28,  Quaest,  i,  c.  5 — Friedberg,  i,  pp.  1080-1081 : 
Licite  dimittitur  uxor  que  virum  suum  cogere  querit  ad  malum. 
Idolatria,  quam  secuntur  infideles,  et  quelibet  noxia  superstitio 
fornicatio  est.  Dominus  autem  permisit  causa  fornicationis 
uxorem  dimitti.  Sed  quia  dimisit  et  non  iussit,  dedit  Apostolo 
locum  monendi,  ut  qui  voluerit  non  dimittat  uxorem  infidelem, 
quo  sic  fortassis  possit  fidelis  fieri.  Si  infidelitas  fornicatio  est, 
et  idolatria  infidelitas,  et  avaritia  idolatria,  non  est  dubitandum 
et  avaritiam  fornicationem  esse.  Quis  ergo  iam  quamlibet 
illicitam  concupiscentiam  potest  recte  a  fornicationis  genere 
separare,  si  avaritia  fornicatio  est  ? 


The  Canon  Law  115 

anyone  shall  say,  that  only  those  degrees  of 
consanguinity  and  affinity  which  are  set  down  in 
Leviticus  [xviii,  6  ff.]  can  hinder  matrimony  from 
being  contracted,  and  dissolve  it  when  contracted ; 
and  that  the  Church  can  not  dispense  in  some  of 
those  degrees,  or  ordain  that  others  may  hinder 
and  dissolve  it;  let  him  be  anathema." 

History  is  full  of  instances  to  prove  that  the 
great  and  wealthy  have  been  able  at  all  times, 
by  working  one  or  more  of  these  doctrines,  to 
reduce  the  theory  of  the  Roman  Church  to 
nullity  in  practice.  Thus  in  our  own  times 
Alfonso  XII  of  Spain  was  allowed  to  marry  his  first 
cousin  and  the  Duke  of  Aosta,  his  own  niece. 
Let  us  take  some  conspicuous  instances  of  marital 
injustice  and  see  whether  the  popes  did  rise  "in 
all  the  majesty  of  their  spiritual  power"  to  protect 
the  injured  wives.  The  case  of  Louis  XII  of 
France  will  at  once  occur.  That  monarch,  having 
fallen  in  love  with  Anne  of  Brittany,  suddenly 
discovered  that  his  wife  was  his  fourth  cousin, 
that  she  was  deformed,  and  that  her  father  had 
been  his  godfather;  and  for  this  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  gave  him  a  dispensation  and  his  legitimate 
wife  was  sent  away.  The  wife  of  Louis  XIV,  to 
take  another  instance,  never  heard  a  word  of 
censure  directed  by  the  Pope  against  her  spouse 
for  committing  adultery  successively  with  Louise 
de  la  Valliere  and  Madame  de  Montespan,  by 
both  of  whom  he  had  illegitimate  children.  I 
have  already  mentioned  that  Charlemagne  and 


ii6      History  of  Women's  Rights 

the  Prankish  kings  kept  numerous  concubines. 
In  our  own  day  the  late  Leopold  of  Belgium  defied 
every  law  of  conjugal  fidelity  for  forty  years;  but 
a  cardinal  gave  him  extreme  unction  and  nothing 
was  ever  done  to  give  his  lawful  wife  some  com- 
fort. The  Catholic  clergy  occasionally  point  with 
pride  to  a  case  like  that  of  Philip  Augustus  of 
Prance  as  a  case  in  point  where  the  Pope  pro- 
tected an  injured  wife;  but  they  forget  that  the 
matrimonial  relations  of  Philip's  contemporary, 
John  of  England,  were  considerably  more  rotten 
and  never  received  any  censure.  The  fact  is, 
Philip  was  questioning  the  Pope's  political  au- 
tocracy; and  that  accounts  for  the  discrimina- 
tion against  him.  The  Holy  See  has  never 
allowed  its  morality  to  interfere  with  its  policy 
imtil  absolutely  necessary. 

Questions  such  as  those  of  inheritance  belong 
properly  to  civil  law;  but  the  canon  law  claimed 
to  be  heard  in  any  case  into  which  any 
spiritual  interest  could  be  foisted.  Thus 
in  the  year  1199  Innocent  III  enacted  that  chil- 
dren of  heretics  be  deprived  of  all  their  offending 
parents'  goods  "since  in  many  cases  even  accord- 
ing to  divine  decree  children  are  punished  in  this 
world  on  account  of  their  parents."  ' 

'Friedberg,  ii,  pp.  782  and  783:  Quum  enim  secundum  legiti- 
mas  sanctiones,  etc. 

Lea,  in  his  History  of  Confession  and  Indulgences,  ii.  p.  87, 
quotes  Zanchini,  Tract,  de  Haeret.,  cap.  33,  to  the  effect  that 
goods  of  a  heretic  were  confiscated  and  disabilities  inflicted  on 
two  generations  of  descendants. 


The  Canon  Law  117 

The  attitude  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
towards  women's  rights   at   the  present   day  is 
practically  the  same  as  it  has  been  for 
eighteen  centuries.     It  still  insists  on  the  tude  towards 
subiection  of  the  woman  to  the  man,  and  '^°^^^  ^^  t^® 

•'  present  day. 

it  is  bitterly  hostile  to  woman  suffrage. 
This  position  is  so  well  illustrated  by  an  article 
of  the  Rev.  David  Barry  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
paper,  the  Dublin  Irish  Ecclesiastical  Review,  that 
I  cannot  do  better  than  quote  some  of  it.  "It 
seems  plain  enough,"  he  says,  "that  allowing 
women  the  right  of  suffrage  is  incompatible  with 
the  high  Catholic  ideal  of  the  unity  of  domestic 
life.  Even  those  who  do  not  hold  the  high  and 
rigid  ideal  of  the  unity  of  the  family  that  the 
Catholic  Church  clings  to  must  recognise  some 
authority  in  the  family,  as  in  every  other  society. 
Is  this  authority  the  conjoint  privilege  of  husband 
and  wife?  If  so,  which  of  them  is  to  yield,  if  a 
difference  of  opinion  arises?  Surely  the  most 
uncompromising  suffragette  must  admit  that  the 
wife  ought  to  give  way  in  such  a  case.  That  is  to 
say,  every  one  will  admit  that  the  wife's  domestic 
authority  is  subordinate  to  that  of  her  husband. 
But  is  she  to  be  accorded  an  autonomy  in  outside 
affairs  that  is  denied  her  in  the  home?  Her 
authority  is  subject  to  her  husband's  in  domestic 
matters — her  special  sphere ;  is  it  to  be  considered 
co-ordinate  with  his  in  regulating  the  affairs  of  the 
State?  Furthermore,  there  is  an  argument  that 
applies  universally,  even    in   the  case  of  those 


ii8      History  of  Women's  Rights 

women  who  are  not  subject  to  the  care  and  pro- 
tection of  a  husband,  and  even,  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  say,  where  the  matters  to  be  decided  on  would 
come  specially  within  their  cognisance,  and  where 
their  judgment  would,  therefore,  be  more  reliable 
than  that  of  men.  It  is  this,  that  in  the  noise  and 
turmoil  of  party  politics,  or  in  the  narrow,  but 
rancorous  arena  of  local  factions,  it  must  needs 
fare  ill  with  what  may  be  called  the  passive  vir- 
tues of  humility,  patience,  meekness,  forbearance, 
and  self -repression.  These  are  looked  on  by  the 
Chiirch  as  the  special  prerogative  and  endowment 
of  the  female  soul.  .  .  .  But  these  virtues  would 
soon  become  sullied  and  tarnished  in  the  dust 
and  turmoil  of  a  contested  election;  and  their 
absence  would  soon  be  disagreeably  in  evidence 
in  the  character  of  women,  who  are,  at  the  same 
time,  almost  constitutionally  debarred  from  pre- 
eminence in  the  more  robust  virtues  for  which 
the  soul  of  man  is  specially  adapted." 

Cardinal  Gibbons,  in  a  letter  to  the  National 
League  for  the  Civic  Education  of  Women — an 
anti-suffrage  organisation — said  that  "woman 
suffrage,  if  realised,  would  be  the  death-blow  of 
domestic  life  and  happiness"  (Nov.  2,  1909). 

Rev.  William  Humphrey,  S.  J.,  in  his  Christian 
Marriage,  chap.  16,  remarks  that  woman  is  "the 
subordinate  equal  of  man" — whatever  that  means. 

Of  these  views  I  shall  have  something  to  say  in  my 
concluding  chapter.  I  shall  merely  remark  here,  in 
passing,  that  in  Colorado,  Wyoming,  Utah,  Idaho, 


The  Canon  Law  119 

and  Australia  women  have  voted  for  years.  They 
have  not  been  "sullied"  in  the  ''rancorous  arena 
of  local  factions" ;  they  are  shown  absolute  respect 
at  the  polls;  wives  have  voted  differently  from 
their  husbands  with  no  interruption  of  domestic 
happiness;  and  it  has  even  been  suggested  that 
marriage  should  be  a  real  partnership  and  that 
the  woman  should  have  as  much  to  say  as  the 
man.  The  latest  reports  from  Idaho  say  that  all 
is  still  quiet.  But  that  such  things  should  work 
out  so  excellently  in  actual  practice  when,  accord- 
ing to  all  monkish  theories,  they  ought  to  cause 
endless  confusion,  is  something  beyond  the  peculiar 
type  of  mind  which  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
produces.  If  facts  do  not  agree  with  her  theories, 
so  much  the  worse  for  the  facts. 

SOURCES 

I.  Corpus  luris  Canonici:  recognovit  Aemilius  Friedberg. 
Lipsiae  (Tauchnitz)  Pars  Prior,  1879.     Pars  Secunda,  1881. 

II.  Sacrosanctum  Concilium  Tridentinum,  additis  Declara- 
tionibus  Cardinalium,  Concilii  Interpretum,  ex  ultima  recogni- 
tione  Joannis  Gallemart,  etc.  Coloniae  Agrippinae,  apud 
Franciscum  Metternich,  Bibliopolam.     MDCCXXVII. 

III.  The  Catholic  Encyclopedia.  New  York,  Robert  Ap- 
pleton  Company,  1909-1910.  (Published  with  the  Imprimatur 
of  Archbishop  Farley.) 

IV.  Various  articles  by  Catholic  prelates,  due  references  to 
which  are  given  as  they  occur. 


CHAPTER  VII 

HISTORY  OF  women's  RIGHTS  IN  ENGLAND 

SINCE  I  have  now  given  a  brief  summary  of 
the  canon  law,  which  until  the  Reformation 
marked  the  general  principles  that  guided  the 
laws  of  all  Europe  on  the  subject  of  women,  I 
propose  next  to  consider  more  particularly  the 
history  of  women's  rights  in  England;  for  the 
institutions  of  England,  being  the  basis  of  our 
own,  will  necessarily  be  more  pertinent  to  us  than 
those  of  Continental  countries,  to  which  I  shall 
not  devote  more  than  a  passing  comment  here  and 
there.  My  inquiry  will  naturally  fall  into  certain 
well-defined  parts.  The  status  of  the  unmarried 
woman  is  different  from  that  of  her  married  sister 
and  will,  accordingly,  demand  separate  considera- 
tion. The  rights  of  women,  again,  are  to  be 
viewed  both  from  the  legal  and  the  social  stand- 
point. Their  legal  rights  include  those  of  a 
private  nature,  such  as  the  disposal  of  property, 
and  public  rights,  such  as  suffrage,  sitting  on  a 
jury,  or  holding  office.  Under  social  rights  are 
included  the  right  to  an  education,  to  earn  a  living, 
and  the  like.  Let  us  glance  first  at  the  history  of 
the  legal  rights  of  single  women. 


Women's  Rights  in  England      121 

From  very  early  times  the  law  has  continued 
to  put  the  single  woman  of  mature  age  on  practi- 
cally a  par  with  men  so  far  as  private  gi^gig 
rights  are  concerned.     She  could  hold  women:  Poi- 

°  lock  and 

land,  make  a  will  or  contract,  could  sue     Maitiand  i, 

and  be  sued,  all  of  her  own  initiative;  she    ^^'  482-485. 

needed  no  guardian.     She  could  herself,  if  a  widow, 

be  guardian  of  her  own  children.     In  the  case  of 

inheritance,   however,  women  have  to    pouockand 

within    extremely    recent    times    been   Maitiand,  h, 

260-313. 
treated  less  generously  than  men.     The     siackstone, 

male  sex  has  been  preferred  in  an  in-  "'  ^^'  '^* 
inheritance;  males  excluded  females  of  equal  de- 
gree; or,  in  the  words  of  Blackstone:  "In  collateral 
inheritances  the  male  stock  shall  be  preferred  to 
the  female;  that  is,  kindred  derived  from  the 
blood  of  the  male  ancestors,  however  remote, 
shall  be  admitted  before  those  from  the  blood  of 
the  female,  however  near;  unless  where  the  lands 
have,  in  fact,  descended  from  a  female.  Thus  the 
relations  on  the  father's  side  are  admitted  in 
infinitum  before  those  on  the  mother's  side  are 
admitted  at  all."  Blackstone  justly  remarks 
that  this  harsh  enactment  of  the  laws  of  England 
was  quite  unknown  to  the  Roman  law  "wherein 
brethren  and  sisters  were  allowed  to  succeed  to 
equal  portions  of  the  inheritance."  As  an  ex- 
ample, suppose  we  look  for  the  heir  of  John  Stiles, 
deceased.     The  order  of  succession  would  be: 

I.  The  eldest  son,  Matthew  Stiles,  or  his  issue. 

II.  If  his  line  is  extinct,  then  Gilbert  Stiles 


122      History  of  Women's  Rights 

and  the  other  sons,  respectively,  in  order  of  birth, 
or  their  issue. 

III.  In  default  of  these,  all  the  daughters  to- 
gether, Margarite  and  Charlotte  Stiles,  or  their 
issue. 

IV.  On  the  failure  of  the  descendants  of 
John  Stiles  himself,  the  issue  of  Geoffrey  and  Lucy 
Stiles,  his  parents,  is  called  in,  viz.:  first,  Francis 
Stiles,  the  eldest  brother  of  the  whole  blood,  or 
his  issue. 

V.  Then  Oliver  Stiles,  and  the  other  whole 
brothers,  respectively,  in  order  of  birth,  or  their 
issue. 

I  VI.  Then  the  sisters  of  the  whole  blood  all 
together,  Bridget  and  Alice  Stiles,  or  their  issue. 

And  so  on.  It  will  be  noted  that  females  of 
equal  degree  inherited  together;  and  that  a 
daughter  excluded  a  brother  of  the  dead  man. 
Men  themselves,  if  younger  sons,  have  suffered 
what  seems  to  us  a  grave  injustice  in  the  preva- 
lence of  the  right  of  primogeniture,  whereby,  if 
there  are  two  or  more  males  in  equal  degree,  the 
eldest  only  can  inherit.  This  law  might  work  for 
the  benefit  of  certain  females ;  thus,  the  daughter, 
granddaughter,  or  great-granddaughter  of  an  eldest 
son  will  succeed  before  the  younger  son. 

To  public  rights,  such  as  sitting  on  a  jury'  or 

*  If  a  woman  sentenced  to  execution  declared  she  was  preg- 
nant, a  jury  of  twelve  matrons  could  be  appointed  on  a  writ 
de  ventre  inspiciendo  to  determine  the  truth  of  the  matter;  for 
she  could  not  be  executed  if  the  infant  was  alive  in  the  womb. 
The  same  jury  determined  the  case  of  a  widow  who  feigned  her- 


Women's  Rights  in  England      123 

holding  offices  of  state,  women  never  were  ad- 
mitted; that  is  a  question  that  has  become 
prominent  only  in  the  twentieth  century  and  will 
demand  consideration  in  its  proper  place. 

Unlike  the  Roman  law,  English  law  allows 
parents  to  disinherit  children  completely,  if  they  so 
desire,  without  being  under  any  compul-  po^g^  ^^ 
sion  to  leave  them  a  part  of  their  goods.  parents. 
As  to  legal  power  over  children,  the  mother, 
as  such,  is  entitled  to  none,  says  Blackstone,^ 
but  only  to  reverence  and  respect.  Now,  how- 
ever, by  the  statute  2  and  3  Vict.,  c.  54,  commonly 
called  Talfourd's  Act,  an  order  may  be  made  on 
petition  to  the  court  of  chancery  giving  mothers 
access  to  their  children  and,  if  such  children  are 
within  the  age  of  seven  years,  for  delivery  of  them 
to  their  mother  until  they  attain  that  age.  But 
no  woman  who  has  been  convicted  of  adultery  is 
entitled  to  the  benefit  of  the  act.  The  father 
has  legal  power  up  to  the  time  when  his  children 
come  of  age;  then  it  ceases.  Until  that  time, 
his  consent  is  necessary  to  a  valid  marriage;  he 
may  receive  the  profit  of  a  child's  estate,  but  only 
as  guardian  or  trustee,  and  must  render  an  account 
when  the  child  attains  his  majority;  and  he  may 
have  the  benefit  of  his  children's  labour  while  they 
live  with  him. 

self  with  child  in  order  to  exclude  the  next  heir  and  when  she 
was  suspected  of  trying  to  palm  off  a  supposititious  birth.  But 
from  all  other  jury  duties  women  have  always  been  excluded 
"on  account  of  the  weakness  of  the  sex" — propter  defectum  sexus, 
^Blackstone,  i,  ch.  i6. 


124      History  of  Women's  Rights 

We  are  ready  now  to  observe  the  status  of 
women  in  marriage.  The  question  of  their  legal 
„   u    ^     ^  rights  in  this  relation  offers  the  most 

Husband  and      ^ 

wife.  Pollock  illuminating  insight   into  their   condi- 

and  Maitland,  ..  •       ii  •  i  i-    i   •    . 

ii.  399-436.  tions  m  the  various  epochs  of  history. 
Biackstone,  i,  Matrimony  is  a  state  over  which  the 
Bryce,  pp.  Church  has  always  asserted  special  juris- 
818.830.  diction.  By  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century  it  was  law  in  England  that  to  it  belonged 
this  prerogative.  The  ecclesiastical  court,  for 
example,  pronounced  in  a  given  case  whether 
there  had  been  a  valid  marriage  or  not ;  the  tem- 
poral court  took  this  decision  as  one  of  the  bases 
for  determining  a  matter  of  inheritance,  whether 
a  woman  was  entitled  to  dower,  and  the  like.  The 
general  precepts  laid  down  by  canon  law  in  the 
case  of  a  wife  have  already  been  noted.  These 
rules  need  now  to  be  supplemented  by  an  account 
of  the  position  of  women  in  marriage  imder  the 
common  law. 

Under  the  older  common  law  the  husband  was 
very  much  lord  of  all  he  surveyed  and  even 
more.  An  old  enactment  thus  describes  a  hus- 
band's duty^:  "He  shall  treat  and  govern  the 
aforesaid  A  well  and  decently,  and  shall  not  inflict 
nor  cause  to  be  inflicted  any  injury  upon  the 
aforesaid  A  except  in  so  far  as  he  may  lawfully 

*  Reg,  Brev.  Orig.,  f.  89:  quod  ipse  praefatam  A  bene  et  honeste 
tractabit  et  gubernabit,  ac  damnum  vel  malum  aliquod  eidem 
A  de  corpore  suo,  aliter  quam  ad  virum  suum  ex  causa  regiminis 
et  castigationis  uxoris  suae  licite  et  rationabiliter  pertinet,  non 
faciet  nee  fieri  procvurabit. 


Women's  Rights  in  England      125 

and  reasonably  do  so  in  accordance  with  the 
right  of  a  hitshand  to  correct  and  chastise  his  wife.^^ 
Blackstone,  who  wrote  in  1763,  has  this  to  say  on 
the  husband's  power  to  chastise  his  wife:  "The 
husband  also,  by  the  old  law,  might  give  his  wife 
moderate  correction.  For,  as  he  is  to  answer  for 
her  misbehaviour,  the  law  thought  it  reasonable  to 
intrust  him  with  this  power  of  restraining  her, 
by  domestic  chastisement,  in  the  same  moderation 
that  a  man  is  allowed  to  correct  his  apprentices  or 
children,  for  whom  the  master  or  parent  is  also 
liable  in  some  cases  to  answer.  But  this  power 
of  correction  was  confined  within  reasonable 
bounds,  and  the  husband  was  prohibited  from 
using  any  violence  to  his  wife  aliter  quam  ad 
virum,  ex  causa  regiminis  et  castigationis  uxor  is 
suae,  licite  et  rationabiliter  pertinet.  ^  The  civil  law 
gave  the  husband  the  same,  or  a  larger,  authority 
over  his  wife ;  allowing  him  for  some  misdemeanours 
flagellis  et  fustibus  acriter  verherare  uxorem  [to  give 
his  wife  a  severe  beating  with  whips  and  clubs] ; 
for  others,  only  modicam  castigationem  adhibere 
[to  apply  moderate  correction].  But  with  us 
in  the  politer  reign  of  Charles  the  Second,  this 
power  of  correction  began  to  be  doubted ;  and  aj 
wife  may  now  have  security  of  the  peace  against 
her  husband,  or,  in  return,  a  husband  against  his 
wife.  Yet  the  lower  rank  of  people,  who  were 
always  fond  of  the  old  common  law,  still  claim  and 

'  "  Except  in  so  far  as  he  may  lawfully  and  reasonably  do  so 
in  order  to  correct  and  chastise  his  wife." 


126      History  of  Women's  Rights 

exert  their  ancient  privilege;  and  the  courts  of 
law  will  still  permit  a  husband  to  restrain  a  wife 
of  her  liberty,  in  case  of  any  gross  misbehaviour." 
Doubtless  what  Mr.  Weller,  Sr.,  describes  as  the 
"amiable  weakness"  of  wife-beating  was  not 
necessarily  confined  to  the  "lower  rank."  For 
instance,  some  of  the  courtly  gentlemen  of  the 
reign  of  Queen  Anne  were  probably  not  averse  to 
exercising  their  old-time  prerogative.  Says  Sir 
Richard  Steele  {Spectator,  479):  "I  can  not  deny 
but  there  are  Perverse  Jades  that  fall  to  Men's 
Lots,  with  whom  it  requires  more  than  common 
Proficiency  in  Philosophy  to  be  able  to  live. 
When  these  are  joined  to  men  of  warm  Spirits, 
without  Temper  or  Learning,  they  are  frequently 
corrected  with  Stripes;  but  one  of  our  famous 
Lawyers  is  of  opinion.  That  this  ought  to  be  used 
sparingly."  The  law  was,  indeed,  even  worse  than 
might  appear  from  the  words  of  Blackstone.  The 
wife  who  feared  unreasonable  violence  could,  to  be 
sure,  bind  her  husband  to  keep  the  peace ;  but  she 
had  no  action  against  him.  A  husband  who 
killed  his  wife  was  guilty  of  murder,  but  the  wife 
who  slew  her  husband  was  adjudged  guilty  of 
petty  treason;  and  whereas  the  man  would  be 
merely  drawn  and  hanged,  the  woman,  until 
the  reign  of  George  III,  was  drawn  and  burnt 
alive.  ^ 

^  The  learned  commentator  Christian  adds  a  few  more  cases 
where  formerly  the  criminal  law  was  harshly  prejudiced  against 
women.    Thus:  "By  the  Common  Law,  all  women  were  denied 


Women's  Rights  in  England      127 

The  right  of  a  husband  to  restrain  a  wife's  liberty 
may  not  be  said  to  have  become  completely 
obsolete  imtil  the  case  of  Reg.  v.  Jackson  in  1891. ' 
Wife-beating  is  still  a  flagrantly  common  offence 
in  England. 

Turning  now  to  the  question  of  the  wifes 
property  in  marriage,  we  shall  be  forced  to  believe 
that  Blackstone  was  an  optimist  of  ^^^.^ 
unusual  magnitude  when  he  wrote  that  perty  in 
the  female  sex  was  "so  great  a  favourite  °^*'"^se. 
of  the  laws  of  England."  Not  to  weary  the  reader 
by  minute  details,  I  cannot  do  better  than  give 
Messrs.  Pollock  and  Maitland's  excellent  summary 
of  the  final  shape  taken  by  the  common  law — 
a  glaring  piece  of  injustice,  worthy  of  careful 
reading,  and  in  complete  accord  with  Apostolic 
injunctions :  '*  I.  In  the  lands  of  which  the  wife  is 
tenant  in  fee,  whether  they  belonged  to  her  at  the 
date  of  the  marriage  or  came  to  her  during  the 
marriage,  the  husband  has  an  estate  which  will 
endure  during  the  marriage,  and  this  he  can 
alienate  without  her  concurrence.  If  a  child  is 
bom  of  the  marriage,  thenceforth  the  husband 
as  '  tenant  by  courtesy'  has  an  estate  which  will 

the  benefit  of  clergy;  and  till  the  j  and  4  W.  and  M.,c.g  [William 
and  Mary]  they  received  sentence  of  death  and  might  have  been 
executed  for  the  first  offence  in  simple  larceny,  bigamy,  man- 
slaughter, etc.,  however  learned  they  were,  merely  because  their 
sex  precluded  the  possibility  of  their  taking  holy  orders ;  though  a 
man  who  could  read  was  for  the  same  crime  subject  only  to 
burning  in  the  hand  and  a  few  months'  imprisonment." 
*  I  Q.  B.  p.  671 — in  the  Court  of  Appeal. 


128      History  of  Women's  Rights 

endure  for  the  whole  of  his  life,  and  this  he  can 
alienate  without  the  wife's  concurrence.  The 
husband  by  himself  has  no  greater  power  of 
alienation  than  is  here  stated;  he  cannot  confer 
an  estate  which  will  endure  after  the  end  of  the 
marriage  or  (as  the  case  may  be)  after  his  own 
death.  The  wife  has  during  the  marriage  no 
power  to  alienate  her  land  without  her  husband's 
concurrence.  The  only  process  by  which  the  fee 
can  be  alienated  is  a  fine  to  which  both  husband 
and  wife  are  parties  and  to  which  she  gives  her 
assent  after  a  separate  examination. 

"II.  A  widow  is  entitled  to  enjoy  for  her  life 
under  the  name  of  dower  one  third  of  any  land 
of  which  the  husband  was  seised  in  fee  at  any  time 
during  the  marriage.  The  result  of  this  is  that 
during  the  marriage  the  husband  cannot  alienate 
his  own  land  so  as  to  bar  his  wife's  right  of  dower, 
unless  this  is  done  with  her  concurrence,  and  her 
concurrence  is  ineffectual  unless  the  conveyance 
is  made  by  fine.''  [This  inconvenience  for  an  un- 
scrupulous husband  was  evaded  in  modem  con- 
veyancy  by  a  device  of  extreme  ingenuity  finally 
perfected  only  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Pro- 
fessor James  Bryce  remarks  (p.  820):  "As  this 
right  (i.e.,  the  right  of  dower)  interfered  with  the 
husband's  power  of  freely  disposing  of  his  own 
land,  the  lawyers  at  once  set  about  to  find  means 
of  evading  it,  and  found  these  partly  in  legal  pro- 
cesses by  which  the  wife,  her  consent  being  ascer- 
tained by  the  courts,  parted  with  her  right,  partly 


Women's  Rights  in  England      129 

by  an  ingenious  device  whereby  lands  could  be 
conveyed  to  a  husband  without  the  right  of  dower 
attaching  to  them,  partly  by  giving  the  wife  a 
so-called  jointure  which  barred  her  claim."] 

**III.  Our  law  institutes  no  community,  even 
of  movables,  between  husband  and  wife.  What- 
ever movables  the  wife  has  at  the  date  of  the 
marriage  become  the  husband's,  and  the  husband 
is  entitled  to  take  possession  of  and  thereby  to  make 
his  own  whatever  movables  she  becomes  entitled 
to  during  the  marriage,  and  without  her  con- 
currence he  can  sue  for  all  debts  that  are  due  her. 
On  his  death,  however,  she  becomes  entitled  to  all 
movables  and  debts  that  are  outstanding,  or  (as 
the  phrase  goes)  have  not  been  '  reduced  into  pos- 
session.' What  the  husband  gets  possession  of  is 
simply  his;  he  can  freely  dispose  of  it  inter  vivos 
or  by  will.  In  the  main,  for  this  purpose  as  for 
other  purposes,  a  'term  of  years'  is  treated  as  a 
chattel,  but  under  an  exceptional  rule  the  husband, 
though  he  can  alienate  his  wife's  'chattel  real* 
inter  vivos,  cannot  dispose  of  it  by  his  will.  If  he 
has  not  alienated  it  inter  vivos,  it  will  be  hers  if  she 
survives  him.  If  he  survives  her,  he  is  entitled  to 
her  *  chattels  real '  and  is  also  entitled  to  be  made 
the  administrator  of  her  estate.  In  that  capacity 
he  has  a  right  to  whatever  movables  or  debts  have 
not  yet  been  'reduced  into  possession'  and,  when 
the  debts  have  been  paid,  he  keeps  these  goods  as 
his  own.  If  she  dies  in  his  lifetime,  she  can  have 
no  other  intestate  successor.    Without  his  consent 


130      History  of  Women's  Rights 

she  can  make  no  will,  and  any  consent  that  he 
may  have  given  is  revocable  at  any  time  before 
the  will  is  proved. 

'  *  IV.  Our  common  law — but  we  have  seen 
that  this  rule  is  not  very  old — assured  no  share  of 
the  husband's  personality  to  the  widow.  He  can, 
even  by  his  will,  give  all  of  it  away  from  her  except 
her  necessary  clothes,  and  with  that  exception  his 
creditors  can  take  all  of  it.  A  further  exception, 
of  which  there  is  not  much  to  be  read,  is  made 
of  jewels,  trinkets,  and  ornaments  of  the  person, 
under  the  name  of  paraphernalia.  The  husband 
may  sell  or  give  these  away  in  his  lifetime,  and  even 
after  his  death  they  may  be  taken  for  his  debts; 
but  he  cannot  give  them  away  by  will.  If  the 
husband  dies  during  the  wife's  life  and  dies  intestate 
she  is  entitled  to  a  third,  or,  if  there  be  no  living 
descendant  of  the  husband,  to  one  half  of  his 
personality  [but  see  the  note  of  Bryce,  above]. 
But  this  is  a  case  of  pure  intestate  succession ;  she 
only  has  a  share  of  what  is  left  after  payment  of 
her  husband's  debts. 

"V.  During  the  marriage  the  husband  is  in 
effect  liable  to  the  whole  extent  of  his  property  for 
debts  incurred  or  wrongs  committed  by  his  wife 
before  the  marriage,  also  for  wrongs  committed 
during  the  marriage.  The  action  is  against  him 
and  her  as  co-defendants.  If  the  marriage  is' 
dissolved  by  his  death,  she  is  liable,  his  estate  is 
not.  If  the  marriage  is  dissolved  by  her  death, 
he  is  liable  as  her  administrator,  but  only  to  the 


Women's  Rights  in  England      131 

extent  of  the  property  which  he  takes  in  that 
character."  [Mr.  Ashton,  in  his  very  interesting 
book,  p.  31,  quotes  a  peculiar  note  from  a  Parish 
Register  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne  to  this  effect : 
"John  Bridmore  and  Anne  Sellwood,  both  of 
Chiltern  all  Saints,  were  married  October  17,  17 14. 
The  aforesaid  Anne  Sellwood  was  married  in  her 
Smock,  without  any  clothes  or  headgier  on." 
"This  is  not  uncommon, "  remarks  Mr.  Ashton, 
''the  object  being,  according  to  a  vulgar  error,  to 
exempt  the  husband  from  the  payment  of  any 
debts  his  wife  may  have  contracted  in  her  ante- 
nuptial condition.  This  error  seems  to  have 
been  founded  on  a  misconception  of  the  law,  as  it 
is  laid  down  'the  husband  is  liable  for  the  wife's 
debts,  because  he  acquires  an  absolute  interest  in 
the  personal  estate  of  his  wife.'  An  unlearned 
person  from  this  might  conclude,  and  not  un- 
reasonably, that  if  his  wife  had  no  estate  whatever 
he  could  not  incur  any  liability."] 

"VI.  During  the  marriage  the  wife  cannot 
contract  on  her  own  behalf.  She  can  contract  as 
her  husband's  agent  and  has  a  certain  power  of 
pledging  his  credit  in  the  purchase  of  necessaries. 
At  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages  it  is  very  doubtful 
how  far  this  power  is  to  be  explained  by  an 
'implied  agency.'  The  tendency  of  more  recent 
times  has  been  to  allow  her  no  power  that  cannot 
be  thus  explained,  except  in  the  exceptional  case 
of  desertion." 

A  perusal  of  these  laws  shows  that  they  are 


132      History  of  Women's  Rights 

immensely  inferior  to  the  Roman  law,  which  not 
only  gave  the  wife  full  control  of  her  property, 
but  protected  her  from  coercion  and  bullying  on 
the  part  of  the  husband.  The  amendment  of  these 
injustices  has  been  very  recent  indeed.  Successive 
statutes  in  1870,  1874,  ^^^  1882  ^  finally  abrogated 
the  law  which  gave  the  husband  full  ownership  of 
his  wife's  property  by  the  mere  act  of  marriage. 
Beginning  with  the  year  1857,  too,  enlightenment 
in  England  had  progressed  to  such  a  remarkable 
degree  that  certain  acts  were  passed  forbidding 
a  husband  to  seize  his  wife's  earnings  and  neglect 
her^;  and  she  was  actually  allowed  to  keep  her 
own  wages  after  the  desertion  of  her  lord.  Before 
that  time  he  might  desert  his  wife  repeatedly, 
and  rettmi  from  time  to  time  to  take  away  her 
earnings  and  sell  everything  she  had  acquired. 
An  act  in  1886  (49  and  50  Vict.,  c.  52)  gave  magis- 
trates the  power  to  order  a  husband  to  pay  his 
wife  a  weekly  sum,  not  exceeding  two  pounds,  for 
her  support  and  that  of  the  children  if  it  appeared 
to  the  magistrates  that  the  deserting  husband  had 

^  Married  Women'' s  Property  Act,  45  and  46  V.,  c.  75 — Aug. 
18,  1882. 

*  Note  this  incident,  from  the  Westminister  Review,  October, 
1856:  "A  lady  whose  husband  had  been  unsuccessful  in  busi- 
ness established  herself  as  a  milliner  in  Manchester.  After  some 
years  of  toil  she  realised  sufficient  for  the  family  to  live  upon  com- 
fortably, the  husband  having  done  nothing  meanwhile.  They 
lived  for  a  time  in  easy  circumstances  after  she  gave  up  business 
and  then  the  husband  died,  bequeathing  all  his  wife's  earnings  to 
his  own  illegitimate  children.  At  the  age  of  62  she  was  compelled, 
in  order  to  gain  her  bread,  to  return  to  business." 


Women's  Rights  in  England      133 

the  means  of  maintaining  her,  but  was  unwilling 
to  do  so.  Still,  the  husband  can  at  any  time 
terminate  his  desertion  and  force  his  wife  to  take 
him  back  on  penalty  of  losing  all  rights  to  such 
maintenance.  There  was  frantic  opposition  to 
all  of  these  revolutionary  enactments  and  many 
prophets  arose  crying  woe;  but  the  acts  finally 
passed  and  England  still  lives. 

Until  the  Reformation  divorce  was  regulated 
by  the  canon  law  in  accordance  with  the  principles 
which  I  have  explained.  After  the  Divorce. 
Reformation  the  matter  at  once  assumed  Authorities 
a  different  aspect  because  all  Protestants  an/noward! 
agreed  in  denying  that  marriage  is  a  ".3-117. 
sacrament.  Scotland  in  this  as  in  other  respects 
has  been  more  liberal  than  England ;  as  early  as 
1573  desertion  as  well  as  adultery  had  become 
grounds  for  divorce.  But  in  England  the  force  of 
the  canon  law  continued.  In  Blackstone's  day 
there  were  still,  as  under  the  canon  law,  only 
two  kinds  of  separation.  Complete  dissolution 
of  the  marriage  tie  {a  vinculo  matrimonii)  took 
place  only  on  a  declaration  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
Court  that  on  account  of  some  canonical  im- 
pediment, like  consanguinity,  the  marriage  was 
null  and  void  from  the  beginning.  Separation 
"from  bed  and  board"  {a  mensa  et  thoro)  simply 
gave  the  parties  permission  no  longer  to  Hve 
together  and  was  allowed  for  adultery  or  some 
other  grave  offences,  like  intolerable  cruelty  or 
a  chronic  disease.      However,  some  time  before 


134      History  of  Women's  Rights 

Blackstone's  day  it  had  become  the  habit  to  get 
a  dissolution  of  marriage  a  vinculo  matrimonii  for 
adultery  by  Act  of  Parliament ;  but  the  legal  pro- 
cess was  so  tedious,  minute,  and  expensive  that  only 
the  very  rich  could  afford  the  luxury.  ^  In  the  case 
of  a  separation  a  mensa  et  thoro  alimony  was  allowed 
the  wife  for  her  support  out  of  her  husband's  es- 
tate at  the  discretion  of  the  ecclesiastical  judges. 

The  initiative  in  divorce  by  Act  of  Parliament 
was  usually  taken  by  the  husband;  not  until  1801 
did  a  woman  have  the  temerity  so  to  assert  her 
rights.  The  fact  is,  ever  since  the  dawn  of  history 
society  has,  with  its  usual  double  standard  of 
morality  for  men  and  women,  insisted  that  while 
the  husband  must  never  tolerate  infidelity  on  the 
part  of  the  wife,  the  wife  should  bear  with  meek- 
ness the  adulteries  of  her  husband.  Plutarch 
in  his  Conjugal  Precepts  so  advises  a  wife ;  and  this 
pious  frame  of  mind  has  continued  down  the 
centuries  to  the  present  day.  Devout  old  Jeremy 
Taylor  in  his  Holy  Living — a  book  which  is  read 
by  few,  but  praised  by  many — thus  counsels  the 
suffering  wife'':  *'But  if,  after  all  the  fair  deport- 
ments and  innocent  chaste  compliances,  the  hus- 
band be  morose  and  ungentle,  let  the  wife  dis- 
course thus :  'If,  while  I  do  my  duty,  my  husband 
neglects  me,  what  will  he  do  if  I  neglect  him?' 
And  if  she  thinks  to  be  separated  by  reason  of  her 

^  For  a  full  account  of  the  elaborate  machinery  see  Chitty's 
note  to  Blackstone,  vol.  i,  p.  441,  of  Sharswood's  edition. 
*  Holy  Living,  ch.  3,  section  i :  Rules  for  Married  Persons. 


Women's  Rights  in  England      135 

husband's  unchaste  life,  let  her  consider  that  the 
man  will  be  incurably  ruined,  and  her  rivals 
could  wish  nothing  more  than  that  they  might 
possess  him  alone."  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  ably 
seconded  the  holy  Jeremy's  advice  by  declaring 
that  there  is  a  boundless  difference  between  the 
infidelity  of  the  man  and  that  of  the  woman.  In 
the  husband's  case  "the  man  imposes  no  bastards 
upon  his  wife."  Therefore,  ''wise  married  women 
don't  trouble  themselves  about  infidelity  in  their 
husbands."  ^  Until  very  recent  times  not  only  men 
but  also  women  have  been  unanimous  in  cotmsel- 
ling  abject  submission  to  and  humble  adoration  of 
the  husband.  A  single  example  out  of  hundreds 
will  serve  excellently  as  a  pattern.  In  1821  a 
"Lady  of  Distinction"  writes  to  a  "Relation 
Shortly  after  Her  Marriage"  as  follows  ^•  "The 
most  perfect  and  implicit  faith  in  the  superiority 
of  a  husband's  judgment,  and  the  most  absolute 
obedience  to  his  desires,  is  not  only  the  conduct 
that  will  insure  the  greatest  success,  but  will  give 
the  most  entire  satisfaction.  It  will  take  from 
you  a  thousand  cares,  which  would  have  answered 
to  no  purpose ;  it  will  relieve  you  from  a  weight  of 
thought  that  would  be  very  painful,  and  in  no 
way  profitable.  ...  It  has  its  origin  in  reason, 

^  Boswell,  vii,  288.  Perhaps  if  the  venerable  Samuel  had  had 
the  statistics  of  venereal  disease  given  by  adulterous  husbands 
to  wives  and  children  he  might  not  have  been  so  sure  of  his 
contention. 

'  Quoted  by  Professor  Thomas  in  the  American  Magazine ^ 
July,  1909. 


136      History  of  Women's  Rights 

in  justice,  in  nature,  and  in  the  law  of  God.  .  .  . 
I  have  told  you  how  you  may,  and  how  people 
who  are  married  do,  get  a  likeness  of  countenance ; 
and  in  that  I  have  done  it.  You  will  understand 
me,  that  by  often  looking  at  your  husband's  face, 
by  smiling  on  the  occasions  on  which  he  does,  by 
frowning  on  those  things  which  make  him  frown, 
and  by  viewing  all  things  in  the  light  in  which  you 
perceive  he  does,  you  will  acquire  that  likeness  of 
countenance  which  it  is  an  honour  to  possess,  be- 
cause it  is  a  testimony  of  love.  .  .  .  When  your 
temper  and  your  thoughts  are  formed  upon  those 
of  your  husband,  according  to  the  plan  which  I  have 
laid  down,  you  will  perceive  that  you  have  no  will, 
no  pleasure,  but  what  is  also  his.  This  is  the 
character  the  wife  of  prudence  would  be  apt  to 
assume ;  she  would  make  herself  the  mirror,  to  show, 
unaltered,  and  without  aggravation,  diminution, 
or  distortion,  the  thoughts,  the  sentiments,  and 
the  resolutions  of  her  husband.  She  would  have 
no  particular  design,  no  opinion,  no  thought,  no 
passion,  no  approbation,  no  dislike,  but  what 
should  be  conformable  to  his  own  judgment.  .  .  . 
I  would  have  her  judgment  seem  the  reflecting 
mirror  to  his  determination;  and  her  form  the 
shadow  of  his  body,  conforming  itself  to  his 
several  positions,  and  following  it  in  all  its  move- 
ments. ...  I  would  not  have  you  silent;  nay, 
when  trifles  are  the  subject,  talk  as  much  as  any 
of  them ;  but  distinguish  when  the  discotirse  turns 
upon  things  of  importance." 


Women's  Rights  in  England      137 

It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  no  woman 
protested  publicly  against  a  husband's  infidelity 
until  1 80 1.  Up  to  1840  there  were  but  three  cases 
of  a  woman's  taking  the  initiative  in  divorce, 
namely,  in  1801,  1831,  and  1840;  and  in  each  case 
the  man's  adultery  was  aggravated  by  other 
offences.  In  two  other  suits  the  Lords  rejected 
the  petition  of  the  wife,  although  the  misconduct 
of  the  husband  was  clearly  proved.  But  redress 
was  still  by  the  elaborate  machinery  of  Act  of 
Parliament  and  hence  a  luxury  only  for  the 
wealthy  until  1857,  when  a  special  Court  for 
Divorce  and  Matrimonial  Causes  was  established.  ^ 
Nevertheless,  the  law  as  it  stands  to-day  is  not  of 
a  character  to  excite  admiration  or  to  prove  the 
existence  of  the  proverbial  ''British  Fair  Play." 
A  husband  can  obtain  a  divorce  upon  proof  of  his 
wife's  infidelity;  but  the  wife  can  get  it  only  by 
proving,  in  addition  to  the  husband's  adultery, 
either  that  it  was  aggravated  by  bigamy  or  incest 
or  that  it  was  accompanied  by  cruelty  or  by  two 
years'  desertion.  Misconduct  by  the  husband 
bars  him  from  obtaining  a  divorce.  The  court  is 
empowered  to  regulate  at  its  discretion  the  pro- 
perty rights  of  divorced  people  and  the  custody  of 
the  children.  ^  All  attempts  have  failed  to  make  the 
law  recognise  that  the  misconduct  of  the  husband 
shall  be  regarded  equally  as  culpable  as  the  wife's. 

»  See  20  and  21  V.,  c.  85 — Aug.  28,  1857. 
» See  7  Edw.,  c.  12 — Aug.  9,  1907 — Matrimonial  Causes  Act, 
which  also  gives  the  court  discretion  in  alimony. 


138      History  of  Women's  Rights 

We  may  pause  a  moment  to  glance  at  the 

provisions  made  by  the  criminal  law  for  protecting 

women.     The  offence  that  most  closely 

Rape  and  the  •  rr^-, 

age  of  legal  touchcs  womcn  IS  rape.  The  punish- 
consent.  nicnt  of  this  in  Blackstone's  day  was 
death ' ;  but  in  the  next  century  the  death  penalty 
was  repealed  and  transportation  for  life  substi- 
tuted. ^  The  saddest  blot  on  a  presumably 
Christian  civilisation  connected  with  this  matter 
is  the  so-called  "age  of  legal  consent."  Under  the 
older  Common  Law  this  was  ten  or  twelve;  in  1885 
it  was  thirteen^  at  which  period  a  girl  was  supposed 
to  be  at  an  age  to  know  what  she  was  doing.  But 
in  the  year  1885  Mr.  Stead  told  the  London  public 
very  plainly  those  hideous  truths  about  crimes 
against  young  girls  which  everybody  knew  very 
well  had  been  going  on  for  centuries,  but  which 
no  one  ever  before  had  dared  to  assert.  The 
result  was  that  Parliament  raised  the  "age  of 
legal  consent"  to  sixteen^  where  it  now  stands.^ 

^  Blackstone,  iv,  ch.  15. 

^/^and^  v.,  c.  56,  s.  3. 

3  The  Criminal  Law  Amendment  Act,  1885,  48  and  49  V.  c. 
69,  section  5:  "Any  person  who  (i)  unlawfully  and  carnally  knows 
or  attempts  to  have  unlawful  carnal  knowledge  of  any  giri  being 
of  or  above  the  age  of  thirteen  years  and  under  the  age  of  sixteen, 
or  (2)  unlawfully  and  carnally  knows  or  attempts  to  have  carnal 
knowledge  of  any  female  idiot  or  imbecile  woman  or  girl  under 
circumstances  which  do  not  amount  to  rape,  but  which  prove 
that  the  offender  knew  at  the  time  of  the  commission  of  the  of- 
fence that  the  woman  or  girl  was  an  idiot  or  imbecile,  shall  be 
guilty  of  a  misdemeanour,  and  being  convicted  thereof  shall  be 
liable  at  the  discretion  of  the  Court  to  be  imprisoned  for  any 
term  not  exceeding  two  years,  with  or  without  hard  labour." 


Women's  Rights  in  England      139 

The  idea  that  any  girl  of  this  age  is  sufficiently 
mature  to  know  what  she  is  doing  by  consenting 
to  the  lust  of  scoundrels  is  a  fine  commentary  on 
the  acuteness  of  the  legal  intellect  and  the  high 
moral  convictions  of  legislators. 

The  rights  of  women  to  a  higher  education  is 
distinctly  a  movement  of  the  last  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  It  is  true  that  through- 
out  history  there  are  many  examples  rights  to  an 
of  remarkably  well-educated  women —  education. 
Lady  Jane  Grey,  for  example,  or  Queen  Elizabeth, 
or  Olympia  Morata,  in  Italy,  she  who  in  the  golden 
period  of  the  Renaissance  became  a  professor  at 
sixteen  and  wrote  dialogues  in  Greek  after  the 
manner  of  Plato.  But  on  looking  closely  into  these 
instances  we  shall  find  first  that  these  ladies  were 
of  noble  rank  and  only  thanks  to  their  lofty  posi- 
tion had  access  to  knowledge;  and  secondly  that 
they  stand  out  as  isolated  cases — the  great  masses 
of  women  never  dreamM  beyond  the  traditional 
Kleider,  Kuche,  Kinder,  and  Kirche.  That  an 
elementary  education,  consisting  of  reading,  writ- 
ing, and  simple  arithmetic,  was  offered  them 
freely  by  hospital,  monastery,  and  the  like 
schools  even  as  early  as  Chaucer — this  we  know; 
nevertheless,  beyond  that  they  were  not  supposed 
to  aspire.     So  very  recently,  indeed,  have  women 

Section  4:  "Any  one  who  unlawfully  and  carnally  knows  any 
girl  under  the  age  of  thirteen  shall  be  guilty  of  felony,  and  being 
convicted  thereof  shall  be  liable  to  be  kept  in  penal  servitude  for 
life."  Any  one  who  merely  attempts  it  can  be  imprisoned  for 
any  term  not  exceeding  two  years,  with  or  without  hard  labour. 


140      History  of  Women's  Rights 

secured  the  rights  to  a  higher  education  that 
many  thousands  to-day  can  easily  recall  the 
intensely  bitter  attacks  which  were  directed 
against  colleges  like  Wellesley  and  Bryn  Mawr  in 
their  inception.  Until  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  the  whole  education — what  there 
was  of  it — of  a  girl  was  arranged  primarily  with  a 
view  to  capture  a  husband  and,  once  having  him 
secure,  to  be  his  loving  slave,  to  dwell  with  adoring 
rapture  on  his  superior  learning,  and  to  be  humbly 
grateful  if  her  liege  deigned  from  time  to  time  to 
throw  his  spouse  some  scraps  of  knowledge  which 
might  be  safely  administered  without  danger  of 
making  her  think  for  herself.  These  facts  no  one 
can  well  deny;  but  a  few  instances  of  prevalent 
opinion,  in  addition  to  those  which  I  have  already 
quoted,  will  afford  the  amusement  of  concrete 
examples. 

Mrs.  Chapone,  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
advised  her  niece  to  avoid  the  study  of  classics 
and  science  lest  she  "excite  envy  in  one  sex  and 
jealousy  in  the  other."  Lady  Mary  Wortley 
Montagu  laments  thus:  "There  is  hardly  a 
creature  in  the  world  more  despicable  and  more 
liable  to  imiversal  ridicule  than  a  learned  woman," 
and  "folly  is  reckoned  so  much  our  proper  sphere, 
we  are  sooner  pardoned  any  excesses  of  that  than 
the  least  pretensions  to  reading  and  good  sense." 
Pursuant  to  the  prevailing  sentiment  on  the 
education  of  women,  the  subjects  which  they 
studied  and  the  books  which  they  were  allowed 


Women's  Rights  in  England      141 

to  read  were  carefully  regulated.  As  to  their 
reading,  it  was  confined  to  romantic  tales  whereof 
the  exceeding  insipidity  could  not  awaken  any 
symptom  of  intelligence.  Lyly  dedicated  his 
Euphues  to  the  "Ladies  and  Gentlewomen  of 
England'*  and  Sidney's  Arcadia  owed  its  vast 
success  to  its  female  readers. 

The  subjects  studied  followed  the  orthodox 
views.  Beginning  with  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne 
boarding-schools  for  girls  became  very  numerous. 
At  these  schools  "yoimg  Gentlewomen"  were 
"soberly  educated"  and  "taught  all  sorts  of 
learning  fit  for  young  Gentlewomen."  The 
"learning  fit  for  young  Gentlewomen"  comprised 
"the  Needle,  Dancing,  and  the  French  tongue;  a 
little  Music  on  the  Harpsichord  or  Spinet,  to  read, 
write,  and  cast  accounts  in  a  small  way."  Danc- 
ing was  the  all-important  study,  since  this  was 
the  surest  route  to  their  Promised  Land,  matri- 
mony. The  study  of  French  consisted  in  learning 
parrot-like  a  modicum  of  that  language  pronounced 
according  to  the  fancy  of  the  speaker.  As,  how- 
ever, the  young  beau  probably  did  not  know  any 
more  himself,  the  end  justified  the  means.  Studies 
like  history,  when  pursued,  were  taken  in  homoeo- 
pathic doses  from  small  compendiums ;  and  it  was 
adequate  to  know  that  Charlemagne  lived  some- 
where in  Europe  about  a  thousand  or  so  years  ago. 
Yet  even  this  was  rather  advanced  work  and 
exposed  the  woman  to  be  damned  by  the  report 
that  she  was  educated.     Ability  to  cook  was  not 


142      History  of  Women's  Rights 

despised  and  pastry  schools  were  not  uncommon. 
Thus  in  the  time  of  Queen  Anne  appears  this: 
"To  all  Young  Ladies:  at  Edw.  Kidder's  Pastry- 
School  in  little  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  are  taught  all 
Sorts  of  Pastry  and  Cookery,  Dutch  hollow  works, 
and  Butter  Works,"  etc. 

At  last  in  the  first  decades  of  the  nineteenth 
^century  the  civilised  world  began  slowly  to  take 
some  thought  of  women's  higher  education  and 
to  wake  up  to  the  fact  that  because  a  certain 
system  has  been  in  vogue  since  created  man  does 
not  necessarily  mean  that  it  is  the  right  one;  a 
very  heretical  and  revolutionary  idea,  which  has 
always  been  and  still  is  ably  opposed  by  that  great 
host  of  people  who  have  steadily  maintained  that 
when  men  and  women  once  begin  to  think  for 
themselves  society  must  inevitably  run  to  ruin. 
In  1843  there  was  established  a  certain  Governesses' 
Benevolent  Institution.  This  was  in  its  inception 
a  society  to  afford  relief  to  governesses,  i.e., 
women  engaged  in  tutoring,  who  might  be  tem- 
porarily in  straits,  and  to  raise  annuities  for  those 
who  were  past  doing  work.  Obviously  this  would 
suggest  the  question  of  what  a  competent  govern- 
ess was;  and  this  in  turn  led  to  the  demand  for  a 
diploma  as  a  warrant  of  efficiency.  That  called 
attention  to  the  extreme  ignorance  of  the  members 
of  the  profession ;  and  it  was  soon  felt  that  classes 
of  instruction  were  needed.  A  sum  of  money 
was  accordingly  collected  in  1846  and  given 
the  Institution  for  that  purpose.     Some  eminent 


Women's  Rights  in  England      143 

professors  of  King's  College  volunteered  to  lecture ; 
and  so,  on  a  small  scale  to  be  sure,  began  what 
is  now  Queen's  College,  the  first  college  for  women 
in  England,  incorporated  by  Royal  Charter  in 
1853.  In  1849  Bedford  College  for  women  had 
been  founded  in  London  through  the  unselfish 
labours  of  Mrs.  Reid ;  but  it  did  not  receive  its 
charter  until  1869.  Within  a  decade  Cheltenham, 
Girton,  Newnham,  and  other  colleges  for  women 
had  arisen.  Eight  of  the  ten  men's  universities 
of  Great  Britain  now  allow  examinations  and 
degrees  to  women  also;  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
do  not. 

Since  then  women's  right  to  any  higher  educa- 
tion which  they  may  wish  to  embrace  has  been 
permanently  assured.  As  early  as  1868  women  in  the 
Edinburgh  opened  its  courses  in  phar-  professions, 
macy  to  women.  In  1895  there  were  already 
264  duly  qualified  female  physicians  in  Great 
Britain.  In  many  schools  they  are  allowed  to 
study  with  men,  as  at  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  at  Edinburgh ;  there  are  four  medical 
schools  for  women  only.  We  find  women  now 
actively  engaged  in  agriculture,  apiculture,  poultry- 
keeping,  horticulture;  in  library  work  and  index- 
ing; in  stenography;  in  all  trades  and  professions. 
The  year  1893  witnessed  the  first  appointment  of 
women  as  factory  inspectors,  two  being  chosen 
that  year  in  London  and  in  Glasgow.  Notting- 
ham had  chosen  women  as  sanitary  inspectors  in 
1892.     Thus  in  about  two  decades  woman  has  , 


144      History  of  Women's  Rights 

advanced  farther  than  in  the  combined  ages  which 
preceded.  Before  these  very  modem  move- 
ments we  may  say  that  the  stage  was  the  only 
profession  which  had  offered  them  any  opportunity 
of  earning  their  Hving  in  a  dignified  way.  It 
seems  that  a  Mrs.  Coleman,  in  1656,  was  the 
first  female  to  act  on  the  stage  in  England ;  before 
that,  all  female  parts  had  been  taken  by  boys 
or  yoimg  men.  A  Mrs.  Sanderson  played  Des- 
demona  in  1660  at  the  Clare  Market  Theatre.  In 
1 66 1,  as  we  may  see  from  Pepys'  Diary  (Feb.  12, 
1 661),  an  actress  was  still  a  novelty;  but  within 
a  few  decades  there  were  already  many  famous 
ones. 

We  have  seen  that  now  woman  has  obtained 
practically  all  rights  on  a  par  with  men.     There 
are  still  grave  injustices,  as  in  divorce; 
frag"  in  E^ng-  but  thc  battle  is  substantially  won.    One 
land.  right  still  remains  for  her  to  win,  the 

right,  namely,  to  vote,  not  merely  on  issues  such 
as  education — this  privilege  she  has  had  for  some 
time — but  on  all  political  questions ;  and  connected 
with  this  is  the  right  to  hold  political  office.  We 
may  fittingly  close  this  chapter  by  a  review  of  the 
history  of  the  agitation  for  woman  suffrage. 
I  In  the  year  1797  Charles  Fox  remarked:  "It 
has  never  been  suggested  in  all  the  theories  and 
projects  of  the  most  absurd  speculation,  that  it 
would  be  advisable  to  extend  the  elective  suffrage 
to  the  female  sex."  Yet  five  years  before  Mary 
WoUstonecraft  had  published  her  Vindication  0} 

\ 


V 


Women's  Rights  in  England      145 

the  Rights  of  Women.  Presently  the  writings  of 
Harriet  Martineau  upon  political  economy  proved 
that  women  could  really  think  on  politics. 

We  may  say  that  the  general  public  first  began 
to  think  seriously  on  the  matter  after  the  epoch- 
making  Reform  Act  of  1832.  This  celebrated 
measure  admitted  £10  householders  to  the  right 
to  vote  and  carefully  excluded  females;  yet  it 
marked  a  new  era  in  the  awakening  of  civic 
consciousness :  women  had  taken  active  part  in  the 
attendant  campaigns;  and  the  very  fact  that 
"male  persons"  needed  now  to  be  so  specifically 
designated  in  the  bill,  whereas  hitherto  "persons" 
and  "freeholders"  had  been  deemed  sufficient, 
attests  the  recognition  of  a  new  factor  in 
political  life. 

In  1865  John  Stuart  Mill  was  elected  to  Parlia- 
ment. That  able  thinker  had  written  on  The 
Subjection  of  Women  and  was  ready  to  champion 
their  rights.  A  petition  was  prepared  under  the 
direction  of  women  like  Mrs.  Bodichon  and  Miss 
Davies;  and' in  1867  Mill  proposed  in  Parliament 
that  the  word  man  be  omitted  from  the  People's 
Bill  and  person  substituted.  The  amendment 
was  rejected,  196  to  83. 

Nevertheless,  the  agitation  was  continued.  The 
next  year  constitutional  lawyers  like  Mr.  Chis- 
holm  Anstey  decided  that  women  might  be  le- 
gally entitled  to  vote;  and  5000  of  them  applied 
to  be  registered.  In  a  test  case  brought  before  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  the  verdict  was  adverse, 


146      History  of  Women's  Rights 

on  the  ground  that  it  was  contrary  to  usage  for 
women  to  vote.  The  fight  went  on.  Mr.  Jacob 
Bright  in  1870  introduced  a  "Bill  to  Remove  the 
Electoral  Disabilities  of  Women"  and  lost.  In 
1884  Mr.  William  Woodall  tried  again;  he  lost 
also,  largely  through  the  efforts  of  Gladstone ;  and 
the  same  statesman  was  instrumental  in  killing 
another  bill  in  1892,  when  Mr.  A.  J.  Balfour  urged 
its  passage. 

At  the  present  day  women  in  England  cannot 
vote  on  great  questions  of  imiversal  state  policy 
nor  can  they  hold  great  offices  of  state.  Yet  their 
gains  have  been  enormous,  as  I  shall  next  de- 
monstrate; and  in  this  connection  I  shall  also 
glance  briefly  at  their  vast  strides  in  the  colonies. 

In  1850  Ontario  gave  all  women  school  suffrage. 
In  1867  New  South  Wales  gave  them  municipal 
suffrage.  In  1869  England  granted  mimicipal 
suffrage  to  single  women  and  widows;  Victoria 
gave  it  to  all  women,  married  or  single.  In 
England  in  1870  the  Education  Act,  by  which 
school  boards  were  created,  gave  women  the 
same  rights  as  men,  both  as  regards  electing  and 
being  elected.  In  1871  West  Australia  gave  them 
municipal  suffrage;  in  1878  New  Zealand  gave 
school  suffrage.  In  1880  South  Australia  gave 
municipal  suffrage.  In  1881  widows  and  single 
women  obtained  municipal  suffrage  in  Scotland 
and  Parliamentary  suffrage  on  the  Isle  of  Man. 
Municipal  suffrage  was  given  by  Ontario  and 
Tasmania  in  1884  and  by  New  Zealand  and  New 


Women's  Rights  in  England     147 

Brunswick  in  1886;  by  Nova  Scotia  and  Manitoba 
in  1887.  In  1888  England  gave  women  county- 
suffrage  and  British  Columbia  and  the  North- West 
Territory  gave  them  municipal  suffrage.  In  1889 
county  suffrage  was  given  the  women  of  Scotland 
and  mimicipal  suffrage  to  single  women  and 
widows  in  the  Province  of  Quebec.  In  1893  New 
Zealand  gave  full  suffrage.  In  1894  parish  and 
district  suffrage  was  given  in  England  to  women 
married  and  single,  with  power  to  elect  and  to  be 
elected  to  parish  and  district  councils.  In  1895 
South  Australia  gave  full  state  suffrage  to  all 
women.  In  1898  the  women  of  Ireland  were 
given  the  right  to  vote  for  all  officers  except 
members  of  Parliament.  In  1900  West  Australia 
granted  full  state  suffrage  to  all.  In  1902  full 
national  suffrage  was  given  all  the  women  in 
federated  Australia  and  full  state  suffrage  to  those 
of  New  South  Wales.  In  1903  Tasmania  gave 
full  state  suffrage;  in  1905  Queensland  did  the 
same;  in  1908  Victoria  followed.  In  1907  England 
made  women  eligible  as  mayors,  aldermen,  and 
county  and  town  councillors.  In  London,  for  ex- 
ample, at  the  present  time  women  can  vote  for 
the  28  borough  councils  and  31  boards  of  guardians 
of  the  London  City  Council;  they  can  also  be 
themselves  elected  to  these;  be  members  of  the 
central  unemployed  body  or  of  the  23  district 
committees,  and  can  be  co-opted  to  all  other 
bodies,  like  the  local  pension  committees.  Wo- 
men can  be  aldermen  of  the  Council ;  and  there  is 


148      History  of  Women's  Rights 

nothing  to  prevent  one  from  holding  even  the 
office  of  chairman. 

At  the  present  moment  the  question  of  com- 
plete political  stiff  rage  has  been  brought '  to  the 
front  as  a  vital  and  national  issue  in  England 
through  the  formation  of  the  Women's  Social 
and  Political  Union  under  the  aggressive  leadership 
of  women  like  Mrs.  and  Miss  Pankhurst,  Mrs. 
Snowden,  Miss  Davies,  Lady  Grove,  and  a  host  of 
others. 

SOURCES 

I.  The  English  Statutes.  Published  by  Authority  during 
the  Various  Reigns. 

II.  Studies  in  History  and  Jurisprudence:  by  James  Bryce. 
Oxford  University  Press,  1901.  Pages  782-859  on  "Marriage 
and  Divorce." 

III.  History  of  English  Law:  by  Frederick  Pollock  and 
Frederic  Maitland.  2  vols.  Cambridge  University  Press, 
1898 — second  edition. 

IV.  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England:  by  Sir  William 
Blackstone.  With  notes  selected  from  the  editions  of  Archbold, 
Christian,  Coleridge,  etc.,  and  additional  notes  by  George 
Sharswood,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  2  vols.  Philadel- 
phia, i860 — Childs  and  Peterson,  602  Arch  Street. 

v.  A  History  of  Matrimonial  Institutions,  chiefly  in  England 
and  the  United  States:  by  George  Elliott  Howard.  4  vols.  The 
University  of  Chicago  Press,  1904. 

VI.  Social  England:  edited  by  H.  D.  Traill.  6  vols.  G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons,  1901. 

VII.  Social  Life  in  the  Reign  of  Queen  Anne,  taken  from 
original  sources:  by  John  Ash  ton.  London,  Chatto  and  Windus, 
1897. 

VIII.  The  Renaissance  of  Girls'  Education  in  England:  by 
Alice  Zimmern.     London,  A.  D.  Innes  and  Co.,  1898. 

IX.  Progress  in  Women's  Education  in  the  British  Empire: 


Women's  Rights  in  England      149 

edited  by  the  Countess  of  Warwick.  Being  the  Report  of  the 
Education  Section,  Victorian  Era  Exhibition,  1897.  Long- 
mans, Green,  &  Co.,  1898. 

X.     Current  Literature  from  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Present 
Day,  references  to  which  are  noted  as  they  occur. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
women's  rights  in  the  united  states 

IT  has  been  my  aim,  in  this  short  history  of  the 
growth  of  women's  rights,  to  depict  for  the 
most  part  the  strictly  legal  aspect  of  the  matter; 
but  from  time  to  time  I  have  interposed  some 
typical  illustration  of  public  opinion,  in  order  to 
bring  into  greater  prominence  the  ferment  that 
was  going  on  or  the  misery  which  existed  behind 
the  scenes.  A  history  of  legal  processes  might 
otherwise,  from  the  coldness  of  the  laws,  give 
few  hints  of  the  conflicts  of  human  passion  which 
combined  to  set  those  processes  in  motion.  Before 
I  present  the  history  of  the  progress  of  women's 
rights  in  the  United  States,  I  shall  place  before 
the  reader  some  extracts  which  are  typical  and 
truly  representative  of  the  opposition  which  from 
the  beginning  of  the  agitation  to  the  present  day 
has  voiced  itself  in  all  ranks  of  life.  Let  the 
reader  bear  carefully  in  mind  that  from  1837  to  the 
beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  such  abuse 
as  that  which  I  shall  quote  as  typical  was  hurled 
from  ten  thousand  throats  of  men  and  women 
unceasingly;  that  Mrs.  Stanton,  Miss  Anthony, 
and  Mrs.  Gage  were  hissed,  insulted,  and  offered 

150 


In  the  United  States  151 

physical  violence  by  mobs  in  New  York^  and 
Boston  to  an  extent  inconceivable  in  this  age ;  and 
that  the  marvellously  unselfish  labour  of  such 
women  as  these  whom  I  have  mentioned  and  of 
men  like  Wendell  Phillips  is  alone  responsible 
for  the  improvement  in  the  legal  status  of 
women,  which  I  propose  to  trace  in  detail.  Some 
expressions  of  the  popular  attitude  follow: 

From  a  speech  of  the  Rev.  Knox-Little  at  the 
Church  of  St.  Clements  in  Philadelphia -in  1880: 
VGod  made  himself  to  be  bom  of  a  wo- 

/  .  -        .,  .  r  -1  Examples  of 

man  to  sanctify  ^the  virtue  of  endurance;  opposition  to 
loving  submission  is  an  attribute  of  a  ''rSwl! 
/woman;  men  are  logical,  but  women, 
I  lacking  this  quality,  have  an  intricacy  of  thought. 
[{There  are  those  who  think  women  can  be  taught 
logic ;  this  is  a  mistake.  They  can  never  by  any 
power  of  education  arrive  at  the  same  mental  status 
as  that  enjoyed  by  men,  but  they  have  a  quickness 
of  apprehension,  which  is  usually  called  leaping 
at  conclusions,  that  is  astonishing.  There,  then, 
we  have  distinctive  traits  of  a  woman,  namely, 
endurance,  loving  submission,  and  quickness  of 
apprehension.  Wifehood  is  the  crowning  glory 
of  a  woman.  In  it  she  is  bound  for  all  time.  To 
her  husband  she  owes  the  duty  of  imqualified 
obedience.  There  is  no  crime  which  a  man  can 
commit  which  justifies  his  wife  in  leaving  him  or 

*  See,  for  example,  the  account  in  the  New  York  Tribune^ 
Sept.  8,  9,  and  12,  1853,  of  what  happened  at  the  Women's 
Rights  Convention  at  that  time. 


152      History  of  Women's  Rights' 

applying  for  that  monstrous  thing,  divorce.  It  is 
her  duty  to  subject  herself  to  him  always,  and  no 
crime  that  he  can  commit  can  justify  her  lack 
of  obedience.  If  he  be  a  bad  or  wicked  man,  she 
may  gently  remonstrate  with  him,  but  refuse  him 
never.  Let  divorce  be  anathema;  curse  it;  curse 
this  accursed  thing,  divorce;  curse  it,  curse  it! 
Think  of  the  blessedness  of  having  children.  I  am 
the  father  of  many  children  and  there  have  been 
those  who  have  ventured  to  pity  me.  *  Keep  your 
pity  for  yourself,*  I  have  replied,  'they  never  cost 
me  a  single  pang.'  In  this  matter  let  woman 
exercise  that  endurance  and  loving  submission 
which,  with  intricacy  of  thought,  are  their  only 
characteristics." 

From  the  Philadelphia  Public  Ledger  and  Daily 
'Transcript,  July  20,  1848 :  "Our  Philadelphia  ladies 
not  only  possess  beauty,  but  they  are  celebrated 
for  discretion,  modesty,  and  imfeigned  diffidence, 
as  well  as  wit,  vivacity,  and  good  nature.  Who 
ever  heard  of  a  Philadelphia  lady  setting  up  for  a 
reformer  or  standing  out  for  woman's  rights,  or  as- 
sisting to  man  the  election  groimds  [sic],  raise  a  regi- 
ment, command  a  legion,  or  address  a  jury?  Our 
ladies  glow  with  a  higher  ambition.  They  soar  to 
rule  the  hearts  of  their  worshippers,  and  secure 
obedience  by  the  sceptre  of  affection.  .  .  .  But  all 
women  are  not  as  reasonable  as  ours  of  Philadel- 
phia. The  Boston  ladies  contend  for  the  rights 
of  women.  The  New  York  girls  aspire  to  mount 
the  rostrum,  to  do  all  the  voting,  and,  we  suppose, 


In  the  United  States  153 

all  the  fighting,  too.  .  .  .  Our  Philadelphia  girls 
object  to  fighting  and  holding  ofiice.  They  prefer 
the  baby- jumper  to  the  study  of  Coke  and  Lyttle- 
ton,  and  the  ball-room  to  the  Palo  Alto  battle. 
They  object  to  having  a  George  Sand  for  President 
of  the  United  States;  a  Corinna  for  Governor;  a 
Fanny  Wright  for  Mayor;  or  a  Mrs.  Partington  for 
Postmaster.  .  .  .  Women  have  enough  influence 
over  human  affairs  without  being  politicians. 
.  .  .  A  woman  is  nobody.  A  wife  is  every- 
thing. A  pretty  girl  is  equal  to  ten  thousand 
men,  and  a  mother  is,  next  to  God,  all  powerful. 
.  .  .  The  ladies  of  Philadelphia,  therefore,  under 
the  influence  of  the  most  'sober  second  thoughts* 
are  resolved  to  maintain  their  rights  as  Wives, 
Belles,  Virgins,  and  Mothers,  and  not  as  Women." 
From  the  "Editor's  Table"  of  Harper's  New 
Monthly  Magazine^  November,  1853:  "Woman's 
Rights,  or  the  movement  that  goes  under  that 
name,  may  seem  to  some  too  trifling  in  itself  and 
too  much  connected  with  ludicrous  associations 
to  be  made  the  subject  of  serious  arguments. 
If  nothing  else,  however,  should  give  it  conse- 
quence, it  would  demand  our  earnest  attention 
from  its  intimate  connection  with  all  the  rad- 
ical and  infldel  movements  of  the  day.  A  strange 
affinity  seems  to  bind  them  all  together.  .  .  . 
But  not  to  dwell  on  this  remarkable  connection — 
the  claim  of  'woman's  rights'  presents  not  only 
the  common  radical  notion  which  underlies  the 
whole  class,  but  also  a  peculiar  enormity  of  its 


154      History  of  Women's  Rights 

own;  in  some  respects  more  boldly  infidel,  or 
defiant  both  of  nature  and  revelation,  than  that 
which  characterises  any  kindred  measure.  It  is 
avowedly  opposed  to  the  most  time-honoured  pro- 
prieties of  social  life;  it  is  opposed  to  nature; 
it  is  opposed  to  revelation.  .  .  .  This  unblushing 
female  Socialism  defies  alike  apostles  and  prophets. 
In  this  respect  no  kindred  movement  is  so  de- 
cidedly infidel,  so  rancorously  and  avowedly  anti- 
biblical. 

"It  is  equally  opposed  to  nature  and  the  estab- 
lished order  of  society  founded  upon  it.  We  do 
not  intend  to  go  into  any  physiological  argument. 
There  is  one  broad  striking  fact  in  the  constitution 
of  the  human  species  which  ought  to  set  the 
question  at  rest  for  ever.  This  is  the  fact  of 
maternity.  .  .  .  From  this  there  arise,  in  the  first 
place,  physical  impediments  which,  during  the  best 
part  of  the  female  life,  are  absolutely  insurmount- 
able, except  at  a  sacrifice  of  almost  everything  that 
distinguishes  the  civilized  human  from  the  animal, 
or  beastly,  and  savage  state.  As  a  secondary,  yet 
inevitably  resulting  consequence,  there  come 
domestic  and  social  hindrances  which  still  more 
completely  draw  the  line  between  the  male 
and  female  duties.  .  .  .  Every  attempt  to  break 
through  them,  therefore,  must  be  pronounced  as 
unnatural  as  it  is  irreligious  and  profane.  .  .  . 
The  most  serious  importance  of  this  modern 
*  woman's  rights '  doctrine  is  derived  from  its 
direct  bearing  upon  the  marriage  institution.    The 


In  the  United  States  155 

blindest  must  see  that  such  a  change  as  is  proposed 
in  the  relations  and  life  of  the  sexes  cannot  leave 
either  marriage  or  the  family  in  their  present  state. 
It  must  vitally  affect,  and  in  time  wholly  sever, 
that  oneness  which  has  ever  been  at  the  founda- 
tion of  the  marriage  idea,  from  the  primitive 
declaration  in  Genesis  to  the  latest  decision  of  the 
common  law.  This  idea  gone — and  it  is  totally 
at  war  with  the  modem  theory  of  *  woman*s  rights* 
— marriage  is  reduced  to  the  nature  of  a  contract 
simply.  .  .  .  That  which  has  no  higher  sanction 
than  the  will  of  the  contracting  parties,  must,  of 
course,  be  at  any  time  revocable  by  the  same 
authority  that  first  created  it.  That  which  makes 
no  change  in  the  personal  relations,  the  personal 
rights,  the  personal  duties,  is  not  the  holy  marriage 
union,  but  the  unholy  alliance  of  concubinage." 

In  a  speech  of  Senator  George  G.  Vest,  of 
Missouri,  in  the  United  States  Senate,  January  25, 
1887,  these:  "I  now  propose  to  read  from  a  pam- 
phlet sent  to  me  by  a  lady.  .  .  .  She  says  to  her 
own  sex:  *After  all,  men  work  for  women;  or,  if 
they  think  they  do  not,  it  would  leave  them  but 
sorry  satisfaction  to  abandon  them  to  such  ex- 
istence as  they  could  arrange  without  us.' 

"  Oh,  how  true  that  is,  how  true!" 

In  1890  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the  New  York 
Senate  to  lower  the  "age  of  consent" — the  age  at 
which  a  girl  may  legally  consent  to  sexual  inter- 
course— from  16  to  14.  It  failed.  In  1892  the 
brothel  keepers  tried  again  in  the  Assembly.     The 


156      History  of  Women's  Rights 

bill  was  about  to  be  carried  by  universal  consent 
when  the  chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee, 
feeling  the  importance  of  the  measure,  called  for 
the  individual  yeas  and  nays,  in  order  that  the 
constituents  of  the  representatives  might  know 
how  their  legislators  voted.  The  bill  thereupon 
collapsed.  In  1889  a  motion  was  made  in  the 
Kansas  Senate  to  lower  the  age  of  consent  from 
18  to  12.  But  the  public  heard  of  it;  protests 
flowed  in ;  and  under  the  pressure  of  these  the  law 
Was  allowed  to  remain  as  it  was. 

Such  are  some  typical  examples  of  the  warfare  of 
the  opposition  to  all  that  pertains  to  advancing 
the  status  of  women.  As  I  review  the  progress 
of  their  rights,  let  the  reader  recollect  that  this 
opposition  was  always  present,  violent,  loud,  and 
often  scurrilous. 

In  tracing  the  history  of  women^s  rights  in  the 
United  States  my  plan  will  be  this :  I  shall  first  give 
a  general  review  of  the  various  movements  con- 
nected with  the  subject;  and  I  shall  then  lay 
before  the  reader  a  series  of  tables,  wherein  may 
be  seen  at  a  glance  the  status  of  women  to-day  in 
the  various  States. 

In  our  coimtry,  as  in  England,  single  women 
have  at  all  times  had  practically  the  same  legal 
_.   ,  rights  as  men;  but  by  no  means  the 

Single  women.       °  •    '  •' 

same  political,  social,  educational,  or 
professional  privileges;  as  will  appear  more  con- 
clusively later  on. 


In  the  United  States  157 

We  may  say  that  the  history  of  the  agitation  for 
women's  rights  began  with  the  visit  of  Frances 
Wright  to  the  United  States  in  1820. 
Frances  Wright  was  a  Scotchwoman,  born    agitation  for 
at  Dundee  in  1797,  and  early  exhibited        women's 

'  ^'  ^  -^  rights. 

a  keen  intellect  on  all  the  subjects  which 
concern  political  and  social  reform.  For  several 
years  after  1820  she  resided  here  and  strove  to 
make  men  and  women  think  anew  on  old  tradi- 
tional beliefs — more  particularly  on  theology, 
slavery,  and  the  social  degradation  of  women. 
The  venomous  denunciations  of  press  and  pulpit 
attested  the  success  of  her  efforts.*^ In  1832 
Lydia  Maria  Child  published  her  History  of 
Woman,  a  resume  of  the  status  of  women;  and 
this  was  followed  by  numerous  works  and  articles, 
such  as  Margaret  Fuller's  The  Great  Lawsuit,  or 
Man  vs.  Woman:  Woman  vs.  Man,  and  Eliza 
Farnham's  Woman  and  her  Era.  Various  women 
lectured;  such  as  Ernestine  L.  Rose — a  PoHsh 
woman,  banished  for  asserting  her  liberty.  The 
question  of  women's  rights  received  a  powerful 
impetus  at  this  period  from  the  vast  number  of 
women  who  were  engaged  in  the  anti-slavery 
agitation.  Any  research  into  the  validity  of 
slavery  perforce  led  the  investigators  to  inquire 
into  the  justice  of  the  enforced  status  of  women; 
and  the  two  causes  were  early  united.  Women 
like  Angelina  and  Sarah  Grimke  and  Lucretia 
Mott  were  pioneers  in  numerous  anti-slavery 
conventions.     But    as    soon    as    they    dared    to 


158      History  of  Women's  Rights 

address  meetings  in  which  men  were  present,  a 
tempest  was  precipitated;  and  in  1840,  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Association, 
the  men  refused  to  serve  on  any  committee  in 
which  any  woman  had  a  part;  although  it  had 
been  largely  the  contributions  of  women  which 
were  sustaining  the  cause.  Affairs  reached  a 
climax  in  London,  in  1840,  at  the  World's  Anti- 
Slavery  Convention.  Delegates  from  all  anti- 
slavery  organisations  were  invited  to  take  part; 
and  several  American  societies  sent  women  to 
represent  them.  These  ladies  were  promptly  de- 
nied any  share  in  the  proceedings  by  the  English 
members,  thanks  mainly  to  the  opposition  of  the 
clergy,  who  recollected  with  pious  satisfaction  that 
St.  Paul  permitted  not  a  woman  to  teach .ly  There- 
upon Lucretia  Mott  and  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton 
determined  to  hold  a  women's  rights  convention 
as  soon  as  they  returned  to  America;  and  thus 
a  World's  Anti-Slavery  Convention  begat  an 
issue  equally  large. 

Accordingly,  the  first  Women's  Rights  Con- 
vention was  held  at  Seneca  Falls,  New  York, 
July  19-20,  1848.  It  was  organised  by  divorced 
i  wives  J  childless  women,  and  sour  old  maids  y  the 
gallant  newspapers  declared;  that  is,  by  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  Mrs.  Lucretia  Mott, 
Mrs.  McClintock,  and  other  fearless  women,  who 
not  only  lived  the  purest  and  most  unselfish  of 
domestic  lives,  but  brought  up  many  children 
besides.     Great  crowds  attended.     A  Declaration 


In  the  United  States  159 

oj  Sentiments  was  moved  and  adopted ;  and  as  this 
exhibits  the  temper  of  the  convention  and  illus- 
trates the  then  prevailing  status  of  women  very 
clearly,  I  shall  quote  it: 

DECLARATION  OF  SENTIMENTS 

**When,  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it 
becomes  necessary  for  one  portion  of  the  family 
of  man  to  assume  among  the  people  of  the  earth  a 
position  different  from  that  which  they  have 
hitherto  occupied,  but  one  to  which  the  laws  of 
nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitle  them,  a  decent 
respect  to  the  opinions  of  mankind  requires  that 
they  should  declare  the  causes  which  impel  them 
to  such  a  course. 

"We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident:  that 
all  men  and  women  are  created  equal;  that  they 
are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  in- 
alienable rights ;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness ;  that  to  secure  these 
rights  governments  are  instituted,  deriving  their 
just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed. 
Whenever  any  form  of  government  becomes  de- 
structive of  those  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  those  who 
suffer  from  it  to  refuse  allegiance  to  it,  and  to  insist 
upon  the  institution  of  a  new  government,  laying 
its  foundation  on  such  principles,  and  organising 
its  powers  in  such  form,  as  to  them  shall  seem 
most  likely  to  effect  their  safety  and  happiness. 
Prudence,  indeed,  will  dictate  that  governments 


i6o      History  of  Women's  Rights 

long  established  should  not  be  changed  for  light 
or  transient  causes;  and  accordingly  all  experience 
hath  shown  that  mankind  are  more  disposed  to 
suffer,  while  evils  are  sufferable,  than  to  right 
themselves  by  abolishing  the  forms  to  which  they 
were  accustomed.  But  when  a  long  train  of 
abuses  and  usurpations,  pursuing  invariably  the 
same  object,  evinces  a  design  to  reduce  them 
under  absolute  despotism,  it  is  their  duty  to  throw 
off  such  government,  and  to  provide  new  guards 
for  their  future  security.  Such  has  been  the 
patient  sufferance  of  the  women  under  this  govern- 
ment, and  such  is  now  the  necessity  which  con- 
strains them  to  demand  the  equal  station  to  which 
they  are  entitled. 

"The  history  of  mankind  is  a  history  of  repeated 
injuries  and  usurpations  on  the  part  ,of  man 
toward  woman,  having  in  direct  objecrthe  estab- 
lishment of  an  absolute  tyranny  over  her.  To  prove 
this,  let  facts  be  submitted  to  a  candid  world. 

"He  has  never  permitted  her  to  exercise  her 
inalienable  right  to  the  elective  franchise. 

"He  has  compelled  her  to  submit  to  laws,  in 
the  formation  of  which  she  had  no  voice. 

"He  has  withheld  from  her  rights  which  are 
given  to  the  most  ignorant  and  degraded  men — 
both  natives  and  foreigners. 

"Having  deprived  her  of  this  first  right  of  a 
citizen,  the  elective  franchise,  thereby  leaving  her 
without  representation  in  the  halls  of  legislation, 
he  has  oppressed  her  on  all  sides. 


In  the  United  States  i6i 

*'He  has  made  her,  if  married,  in  the  eye  of  the 
law,  civilly  dead. 

"He  has  taken  from  her  all  right  in  property, 
even  to  the  wages  she  earns. 

"He  has  made  her,  morally,  an  irresponsible 
being,  as  she  can  commit  many  crimes  with 
imptmity,  provided  they  be  done  in  the  presence 
of  her  husband.  In  the  covenant  of  marriage, 
she  is  compelled  to  promise  obedience  to  her  hus- 
band, he  becoming,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
her  master — the  law  giving  him  power  to  deprive 
her  of  her  liberty,  and  to  administer  chastisement. 
:  "He  has  so  framed  the  laws  of  divorce,  as  to 
what  shall  be  the  proper  causes,  and,  in  case  of 
separation,  to  whom  the  guardianship  of  the  child- 
ren shall  be  given,  as  to  be  wholly  regardless 
of  the  happiness  of  women — the  law  in  all  cases 
going  upon  a  false  supposition  of  the  supremacy 
of  man,  and  giving  all  power  into  his  hands. 

"After  depriving  her  of  all  rights  as  a  married 
woman,  if  single,  and  the  owner  of  property,  he  has 
taxed  her  to  support  a  government  which  recog- 
nises her  only  when  her  property  can  be  made 
profitable  to  it. 

"He  has  monopolised  nearly  all  the  profitable 
employments,  and  from  those  she  is  permitted  to 
follow  she  receives  but  a  scanty  remuneration. 
He  closes  against  her  all  the  avenues  of  wealth  and 
distinction  which  he  considers' most  honourable  to 
himself.  As  a  teacher  of  theology,  medicine,  or 
law,  she  is  not  known. 


i62      History  of  Women's  Rights 

"He  has  denied  her  the  facilities  for  obtaining 
a  thorough  education,  all  colleges  being  closed 
against  her. 

"He  allows  her  in  church,  as  well  as  state, 
but  a  subordinate  position,  claiming  Apostolic 
authority  for  her  exclusion  from  the  ministry,  and, 
with  some  exceptions,  from  any  public  participa- 
tion in  the  affairs  of  the  church. 

"He  has  created  a  false  public  sentiment  by 
giving  to  the  world  a  different  code  of  morals  for 
men  and  women,  by  which  moral  delinquencies 
which  exclude  women  from  society  are  not  only 
tolerated,  but  deemed  of  little  account  in  man. 

"He  has  usurped  the  prerogative  of  Jehovah 
himself,  claiming  it  as  his  right  to  assign  for  her 
a  sphere  of  action,  when  that  belongs  to  her  con- 
science and  to  her  God. 

"He  has  endeavoured,  in  every^  way  that  he 
could,  to  destroy  her  confidence  in  her  own  powers, 
to  lessen  her  self-respect,  and  to  make  her  willing 
to  lead  a  dependent  and  abject  life. 

"Now,  in  view  of  this  entire  disfranchisement 
of  one  half  the  people  of  this  country,  their  social 
and  religious  degradation ;  in  view  of  the  unjust 
laws  above  mentioned,  and  because  women  do  feel 
themselves  aggrieved,  oppressed,  and  fraudulently 
deprived  of  their  most  sacred  rights,  we  insist  that 
they  have  immediate  admission  to  all  the  rights 
and  privileges  which  belong  to  them  as  citizens 
of  the  United  States. 

"In  entering  upon  the  great  work  before  us, 


In  the  United  States  163 

we  anticipate  no  small  amount  of  misconception, 
misrepresentation,  and  ridicule;  but  we  shall  use 
every  instrumentality  within  our  power  to  effect 
our  object.  We  shall  employ  agents,  circulate 
tracts,  petition  the  State  and  National  legislatures, 
and  endeavour  to  enlist  the  pulpit  and  press  in 
our  behalf.  We  hope  this  Convention  will  be 
followed  by  a  series  of  Conventions  embracing 
every  part  of  the  cjountry." 


Such  was  the  defiance  of  the  Women's  Rights 
Convention  in  1848;  other  conventions  were 
held,  as  at  Rochester,  in  1853,  and  at  Albany  in 
1854;  the  movement  extended  quickly  to  other 
States  and  touched  the  quick  of  public  opinion. 
It  bore  its  first  good  fruits  in  New  York  in  1848, 
when  the  Property  Bill  was  passed.  This  law, 
amended  in  i860,  and  entitled  "An  Act  Concerning 
the  Rights  and  Liabilities  of  Husband  and  Wife" 
(March  20,  i860),  emancipated  completely  the 
wife,  gave  her  full  control  of  her  own  property, 
allowed  her  to  engage  in  all  civil  contracts  or 
business  on  her  own  responsibility,  rendered  her 
joint  guardian  of  her  children  with  her  husband, 
and  granted  both  husband  and  wife  a  one-third 
share  of  one  another's  property  in  case  of  the 
decease  of  either  partner. 

Thus  New  York  became  the  pioneer.  The 
movement  spread,  as  I  have  mentioned,  with 
amazing  rapidity;  but  it  was  not  so  uniformly 
successful.     Conventions  were  held,  for  example, 


i64      History  of  Women's  Rights 

in  Ohio,  at  Salem,  April  19-20,  1850;  at  Akron, 
May  28-29,  1851;  at  Massillon  on  May  2^,  1852. 
Nevertheless,  in  1857,  the  Legislature  of  Ohio 
passed  a  bill  enacting  that  no  married  man  should 
dispose  of  any  personal  property  without  having 
first  obtained  the  consent  of  his  wife ;  the  wife  was 
empowered,  in  case  of  a  violation  of  this  law,  to 
commence  a  civil  suit  in  her  own  name  for  the 
recovery  of  the  property ;  and  any  married  woman 
whose  husband  deserted  her  or  neglected  to  pro- 
vide for  his  family  was  to  be  entitled  to  his  wages 
and  to  those  of  her  minor  children.  A  bill  to 
extend  suffrage  to  women  was  defeated,  by  a  vote 
of  44  to  44 ;  the  petition  praying  for  its  enactment 
had  received  10,000  signatures. 

The  course  of  events  as  it  has  been  described 
in  New  York  and  Ohio,  is  practically  the  same 
in  the  case  of  the  other  States.  The  Civil  War 
relegated  these  issues  to  a  secondary  place;  but 
during  that  momentous  conflict  the  heroism  of 
Clara  Barton  on  the.Jiattlefield  and  of  thousands 
of  women  like  her  paved  the  way  for  a  reassertion 
of  the  rights  of  woman  in  the  light  of  her  un- 
questioned exertions  and  unselfish  labours  for  her 
country  in  its  crisis.^  After  the  war,  attention 
began  to  be  concentrated  more  on  the  right  to  vote. 
By  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  the  franchise  was 
at  once  given  to  negroes;  but  the  insertion  of  the 
word  male  effectually  barred  any  national  recog- 
nition of  woman's  right  to  vote.  A  vigorous  effort 
was  made  by  the  suffrage  leaders  to  have  male 


In  the  United  States  165 

stricken  from  the  amendment;  but  the  effort  was 
futile.  Legislators  thought  that  the  black  man's 
vote  ought  to  be  secured  first;  as  the  New  York 
Tribune  (Dec.  12,  1866)  puts  it  snugly:  "We  want 
to  see  the  ballot  put  in  the  hands  of  the  black 
without  one  day's  delay  added  to  the  long  post- 
ponement of  his  just  claim.  When  that  is  done, 
we  shall  be  ready  to  take  up  the  next  question'* 
(i.  e.,  woman's  rights). 

The  first  Women's  Rights  Convention  after  the 
Civil  War  had  been  held  in  New  York  City,  May 
10,  1866,  and  had  presented  an  address  to  Con- 
gress. Such  was  the  dauntless  courage  of  the 
leaders,  that  Mrs.  Stanton  offered  herself  as  a 
candidate  for  Congress  at  the  November  elections, 
in  order  to  test  the  constitutional  rights  of  a 
woman  to  run  for  office.  She  received  twenty- 
four  votes. 

Six  years  later,  on  November  i,  1872,  Miss 
Susan  B.  Anthony  did  a  far  more  audacious 
thing.  She  went  to  the  polls  and  asked  to  be 
registered.  The  two  Republican  members  of  the 
board  were  won  over  by  her  exposition  of  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment  and  agreed  to  receive 
her  name,  against  the  advice  of  their  Democratic 
colleague  and  a  United  States  supervisor.  Follow- 
ing Miss  Anthony's  example,  some  fifty  other 
women  of  Rochester  registered.  Fourteen  voted 
and  were  at  once  arrested  under  the  enforcement 
act  of  Congress  of  May  31,  1870  {section  19).  The 
case  of  Miss  Anthony  was  argued   ably  by  her 


i66      History  of  Women's  Rights 

attorney;  but  she  was  adjudged  guilty.  A  nolle 
prosequi  was  entered  for  the  women  who  voted 
with  her. 

Immediately  after  the  decision  in  her  case, 
the  inspectors  who  had  registered  the  women  were 
put  on  trial  because  they  ''did  knowingly  and 
willfully  register  as  a  voter  of  said  District  one 
Susan  B.  Anthony,  she,  said  Susan  B.  Anthony, 
then  and  there  not  being  entitled  to  be  registered 
as  a  voter  of  said  District  in  that  she,  said  Susan 
B.  Anthony,  was  then  and  there  a  person  of  the 
female  sex,  contrary  to  the  form  of  the  statute  of 
the  United  States  of  America  in  such  case  made  and 
provided,  and  against  the  peace  of  the  United 
States  of  America  and  their  dignity."  The  de- 
fendants were  ordered  to  pay  each  a  fine  of 
twenty-five  dollars  and  the  costs  of  the  prosecution ; 
but  the  sentence  was  revoked  and  an  unconditional 
pardon  given  them  by  President  Grant,  in  an  order 
dated  March  3,  1874.  Miss  Anthony  was  forced 
to  pay  her  fine,  in  spite  of  an  appeal  to  Congress. 

Such  were  the  stirring  times  when  the  agitation 
for  women's  rights  was  first  brought  to  the  fore 
as  a  national  issue.  Within  a  few  years,  various 
States,  like  New  York  and  Kansas,  put  the  ques- 
tion of  equal  suffrage  for  women  before  its  voters ; 
they  in  general  rejected  the  measure.  At  present 
there  are  four  States  which  give  women  complete 
suffrage  and  right  to  vote  on  all  questions  with  the 
same  privileges  as  men,  viz.,  Wyoming  (1869), 
Colorado  (1893),  Utah  (1896),  and  Idaho  (1896). 


In  the  United  States  167 

In  1838  Kentucky  gave  school  suffrage  to  widows 
with  children  of  school  age;  in  1861  Kansas  gave 
it  to  all  women.  School  suffrage  was  granted  all 
women  in  1875  by  Michigan  and  Minnesota,  in 
1876  by  Colorado,  in  1878  by  New  Hampshire  and 
Oregon,  in  1879  by  Massachusetts,  in  1880  by 
New  York  and  Vermont,  in  1883  by  Nebraska, 
in  1887  by  North  and  South  Dakota,  Montana, 
Arizona,  and  New  Jersey.  Kansas  gave  municipal 
suffrage  in  1887;  and  Montana  gave  tax-paying 
women  the  right  to  vote  upon  all  questions  sub- 
mitted to  the  tax-payers.  In  189 1  Illinois  granted 
school  suffrage,  as  did  Connecticut  in  1893.  Iowa 
gave  bond  suffrage  in  1894.  In  1898  Minnesota 
gave  women  the  right  to  vote  for  library  trustees, 
Delaware  gave  school  suffrage  to  tax-paying 
women,  and  Louisiana  gave  tax-paying  women 
the  right  to  vote  upon  all  questions  submitted  to 
the  tax-payers.  Wisconsin  gave  school  suffrage 
in  1900.  In  1 90 1  New  York  gave  tax-paying 
women  in  all  towns  and  villages  of  the  State  the 
right  to  vote  on  questions  of  local  taxation;  and 
the  Kansas  Legislature  voted  down  almost  unani- 
mously a  proposal  to  repeal  municipal  suffrage. 
In  1903  Kansas  gave  bond  suffrage;  and  in  1907 
the  new  State  of  Oklahoma  continued  school 
suffrage.  In  1908  Michigan  gave  all  women  who 
pay  taxes  the  right  to  vote  upon  questions  of  local 
taxation  and  the  granting  of  franchises. 

The  history  of  the  ''age  of  legal  consent"  has 
an  importance  which  through  prudery  and  a  wilful 


i68      History  of  Women's  Rights 

ignorance  of  facts  the  public  has  never  fully  re- 
alised.     I  shall   have    considerable  to   say  of  it 
later.     It   will  suffice  for  the  moment 
legal  to   remark  that  until  the  decade  pre- 

consent.  ceding  1898  the  old  Common  Law 
period  of  ten,  sometimes  twelve,  years  was  the 
basis  of  "age  of  consent"  legislation  in  most  States 
and  in  the  Territories  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  national  government.  In  1885  the  age  in 
Delaware  was  seven. 

The  Puritans,  burning  with  an  unquenchable 

zeal  for  liberty,  fled  to  America  in  order  to  build 

a  land   of  freedom  and   strike  off   the 

nings  of  high-  shackles  of  despotism.    After  they  were 

er  education    comfortably  scttlcd,  they  forthwith  pro- 

for  women.  ^  >  ^  x- 

ceeded,  with  fine  humour,  to  expel  mis- 
tress Anne  Hutchinson  for  venturing  to  speak 
in  public,  to  hang  superfluous  old  women  for 
being  witches,  and  to  refuse  women  the  right  to  an 
education.  In  1684,  when  a  question  arose  about 
admitting  girls  to  the  Hopkins  School  of  New 
Haven,  it  was  decided  that  "all  girls  be  excluded 
as  improper  and  inconsistent  with  such  a  grammar 
school  as  ye  law  enjoins  and  as  in  the  Designs 
of  this  settlement."  "But,"  remarks  Professor 
Thomas,  "certain  small  girls  whose  manners  seem 
to  have  been  neglected  and  who  had  the  natural 
curiosity  of  their  sex,  sat  on  the  schoolhouse  steps 
and  heard  the  boys  recite,  or  learned  to  read  and 
construe  sentences  from  their  brothers  at  home, 
and  were  occasionally  admitted  to  school." 


In  the  United  States  169 

In  the  course  of  the  next  century  the  world 
moved  a  Httle;  and  in  1789,  when  the  pubhc 
school  system  was  established  in  Boston,  girls 
were  admitted  from  April  to  October;  but  until 
1825  they  were  allowed  to  attend  primary  schools 
only.  In  1790  Gloucester  voted  that  "two  hours, 
or  a  proportional  part  of  that  time,  be  devoted  to 
the  instruction  of  females."  In  1793  Plymouth 
accorded  girls  one  hour  of  instruction  daily. 

The  first  female  seminary  in  the  United  States' 
was  opened  by  the  Moravians  at  Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1749.  It  was  unique.  In  1803, 
of  48  academies  or  higher  schools  fitting  for  college 
in  Massachusetts,  only  three  were  for  girls,  al- 
though a  few  others  admitted  both  boys  and  girls. 

The  first  instance  of  government  aid  for  the 
systematic  education  of  women  occurred  in  New 
York,  in  18 19.  This  was  due  to  the  influence  of  a 
remarkable  woman.  Mrs.  Emma  Willard  had  be- 
gun teaching  in  Connecticut  and  by  extraordinary 
diligence  mastered  not  only  the  usual  subjects  of 
the  curriculum,  but  in  addition  botany,  chemistry, 
mineralogy,  astronomy,  and  the  higher  mathema- 
tics. She  had,  moreover,  striven  always  to  in- 
troduce new  subjects  and  new  methods  into  her 
school,  and  with  such  success  that  Governor 
Clinton,  of  New  York,  invited  her  to  that  State 
and  procured  her  a  government  subsidy.  Her 
school  was  established  first  at  Watervliet,  but 
soon  moved  to  Troy.  This  seminary  was  the  first 
girls'   school  in  which   the   higher  mathematics 


I70      History  of  Women's  Rights 

formed  a  part  of  the  course;  and  the  first  public 
examination  of  a  girl  in  geometry,  in  1829,  raised 
a  storm  of  ridicule  and  indignation — the  clergy,  as 
usual,  prophesying  the  speedy  dissolution  of  all 
family  bonds  and  therefore,  as  they  continued 
with  remorseless  logic,  of  the  state  itself.  But 
Mrs.  Willard  continued  her  ways  in  spite  of  clerical 
disapproval  and  by-and-by  projected  a  system 
of  normal  schools  for  the  higher  education  of 
teachers,  and  even  suggested  women  as  superin- 
tendents of  public  schools.  New  York  survived 
and  does  not  even  remember  the  names  of  the 
patriots  who  fought  a  lonely  woman  so  valiantly. 

The  first  female  seminary  to  approach  college 
rank  was  Mt.  Holyoke,  which  was  opened  by 
Mary  Lyon  at  South  Hadley,  Mass.,  in  1836. 
Vassar,  the  next,  dates  from  1865;  and  Radcliffe, 
the  much-abused  "Harvard  Annex,"  was  insti- 
tuted in  1879.  These  were  the  first  colleges 
exclusively  for  women.  Oberlin  College  had 
from  its  foundation,  in  1833,  admitted  men  and 
women  on  equal  terms;  although  it  took  pains  to 
express  its  hearty  disapproval  of  those  women 
who,  after  graduation,  had  the  temerity  to  advo- 
cate political  rights  for  women — rights  which 
that  same  Oberlin  insisted  should  be  given  the 
negro  at  once.  In  1858,  when  Sarah  Burger  and 
other  women  applied  for  admission  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan,  their  request  was  refused. 

It  was  hard  enough  for  women  to  assert  their 
rights  to  a  higher  education ;  to  enter  a  profession 


In  the  United  States  171 

was  almost  impossible.  Nevertheless,  it  was  done. 
The  pioneer  in  medicine  was  Harriet  K.  Hunt  who 
practised  in  Boston  from  1822  to  1872   ^.  ^ 

^  '        First  women 

without  a  diploma;  but  in    1853   the  in 

Woman's  Medical  College  of  Pennsyl-  '^^^'^'• 
vania  conferred  upon  her  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine.  The  first  woman  to  receive  a  diploma 
from  a  college  after  completing  the  regular  course 
was  Elizabeth  Blackwell,  who  attained  that  distinc- 
tion at  Geneva,  New  York,  in  1848.  The  first  ade- 
quate woman's  medical  institution  was  Miss 
Blackwell's  New  York  Infirmary,  chartered  in  1854. 
In  1863,  Dr.  Zakrzewska,  in  co-operation  with 
Lucy  Goddard  and  Ednah  D.  Cheney,  established 
the  New  England  Hospital  for  Women  and  Child- 
ren, which  aimed  to  provide  women  the  medical 
aid  of  competent  physicians  of  their  own  sex,  to 
assist  educated  women  in  the  practical  study  of 
medicine,  and  to  train  nurses  for  the  care  of  the 
sick.  ^ 

In  law,  it  would  seem  that  Mistress  Brut 
practised  in  Baltimore  as  early  as  1647;  but  after 
her  the  first  woman  lawyer  in  the  United 

In  law. 

States  was  Arabella  A.  Mansfield,  of  Mt. 
Pleasant,  Iowa.     She  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1864.     By   1879  women   were  allowed  to  plead 
before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  =" 

'  In  1900  there  were  7399  female  physicians  and  surgeons  in 
the  United  States,  and  808  female  dentists. 

*  In  1900  there  were  1049  women  lawyers  in  the  United 
States.     The  above  statements  are  from  Bliss,  Encyc,  p.  1291. 


172      History  of  Women's  Rights 

Coming  now  to  the  consideration  of  the  ministry, 
the  first  woman  to  attempt  to  assert  a  right  to 
In  the  that  profession  was  Anne  Hutchinson, 

ministry.  ^^  Boston,  in  1 634.  She  was  promptly 
banished.  Among  the  Friends  and  the  Shakers 
women  like  Lucretia  Mott  and  Anne  Lee  preached ; 
and  among  the  primitive  Methodists  and  similar 
bodies  women  were  always  permitted  to  exhort; 
but  the  first  regularly  ordained  woman  in  the 
United  States  appears  to  have  been  Rev.  Antoinette 
Brown  Blackwell,  of  the  Congregational  Church, 
who  was  ordained  in  1852.  In  1864  Rev.  Olympia 
Brown  settled  as  pastor  of  the  parish  at  Weymouth 
Landing,  in  Massachusetts;  and  the  Legislature 
acknowledged  marriages  solemnised  by  women  as 
legal.  Phebe  Hanaford,  Mary  H.  Graves,  and 
Lorenza  Haynes  were  the  first  Massachusetts 
women  to  be  ordained  preachers  of  the  Gos- 
pel; the  latter  was  at  one  time  chaplain  of  the 
Maine  House  of  Representatives.  The  best 
known  woman  in  the  ministry  at  the  present 
day  is  Rev.  Anna  Howard  Shaw,  a  Methodist 
minister,  president  of  the  National  American 
Woman's  Suffrage  Association.' 

Women  have  from  very  early  times  been  ex- 
ceedingly active  in  newspaper  work.  Anna  Frank- 
As  newspaper  Hn  printed  the  first  newspaper  in  Rhode 
editors.  Island,  in  1732;  she  was  made  official 
printer  to  the  colony.  When  the  founder  of  the 
Mercury,  of  Philadelphia,  died  in  1742,  his  widow, 

*  In  1900  there  were  3405  women  clergy  in  the  United  States. 


In  the  United  States  173 

Mrs.  Cornelia  Bradford,  carried  it  on  for  many- 
years  with  great  success,  just  as  Mrs.  Zenger  con- 
tinued the  New  York  Weekly  Journal — the  second 
newspaper  started  in  New  York — for  years  after 
the  death  of  her  husband.  Anna  K.  Greene 
estabHshed  the  Maryland  Gazette,  the  first  paper 
in  that  colony,  in  1767.  Penelope  Russell  printed 
The  Censor  in  Boston,  in  177 1.  In  fact,  there  was 
hardly  a  colony  in  which  women  were  not  actively 
engaged  in  printing.\x<A.fter  the  Revolution  they 
were  still  more  active.  Mrs.  Anne  Royal  edited 
The  Huntress  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Margaret 
Fuller  ran  The  Dial,  in  Boston,  in  1840  and 
numbered  Emerson  and  William  Channing  among 
her  contributors.  From  1840  to  1849  the  mill 
girls  of  Lowell  edited  the  Lowell  Offering.  These 
are  but  a  few  examples  of  what  women  have  done 
in  newspaper  work.  How  very  influential  they 
are  to-day  every  one  knows  who  is  familiar  with 
the  articles  and  editorial  work  appearing  in 
newspapers  and  magazines;  and  that  women  are 
very  zealous  reporters  many  people  can  attest 
with  considerable  vigour.^ 

The  enormous  part  which  women  now  play  in 
industry  and  in  all  economic  production  is  a 
concomitant  of  the  factory  system,  spe-  women  in 
cialised  industry,  and  all  that  makes  industry, 
a  highly  elaborated  and  complex  society.     Be- 

*In  1900  there  were  2193  women  journalists  in  the  United 
States.  This  does  not,  of  course,  include  women  reporters 
and  the  like. 


174      History  of  Women's  Rights 

fore  the  introduction  of  machine  industry,  and  in 
the  simple  society  of  the  colonial  days,  women 
were  no  less  a  highly  important  factor  in  economic 
production;  but  not  as  wage  earners.  Their  im- 
portance lay  in  the  fact  that  spinning,  weaving, 
brewing,  cheese  and  butter  making,  and  the  like 
were  matters  attended  to  by  each  household  to 
supply  its  own  wants ;  and  this  was  considered  the 
peculiar  sphere  of  the  housewife.  In  1840  Harriet 
Martineau  found  only  seven  employments  open 
to  women  in  the  United  States,  viz.,  teaching, 
needlework,  keeping  boarders,  working  in  cotton 
mills  and  in  book  binderies,  type-setting,  and 
household  service. 

I  shall  now  present  a  series  of  fifty  tables,  by 
means  of  which  the  reader  may  see  at  a  glance  the 
status  of  women  in  all  the  States  to-day.  For  con- 
venience, I  shall  arrange  the  views  alphabetically. 

TABLES   SHOWING  THE  PRESENT  STATUS  OF  WOMEN 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  right  of  "dower,'*  as  used  in  these  tables, 
refers  to  the  widow's  right,  under  the  Common 
Law,  to  the  possession,  for  her  life-time,  of  one 
third  of  the  real  estate  of  which  her  husband  was 
possessed  in  fee-simple  during  the  marriage. 

"Curtesy"  is  the  right  of  the  husband  after  his 
wife's  death  to  the  life  use  of  his  wife's  real  estate, 
sometimes  dependent  on  the  birth  of  children, 
sometimes  not;  and  usually  the  absolute  right  to 
her  whole  personal  estate. 


In  the  United  States  175 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  enforcement 
of  certain  laws,  particularly  in  regard  to  child 
labour,  is  extremely  lax  in  many  States.  It  will 
be  noted  also  that  an  unscrupulous  employer 
could  find  loopholes  in  some  of  the  statutes. 
The  reader  can  observe  these  things  for  himself 
in  his  particular  State. 

Alabama 

Age  OF  Legal  Consent  :  14. 

Population:  Male  916,764;  female  911,933. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  has  full  control  of  own  property ;  but  she 
cannot  mortgage  her  real  and  personal  property 
or  alienate  it  without  husband's  consent.  Mar- 
ried women  may  execute  will  without  concurrence 
of  husband  and  may  bar  latter's  right  of  curtesy. 
Husband  may  appoint  guardian  for  children  by 
will;  but  wife  has  custody  of  them  until  they  are 
fourteen.  If  a  wife  commits  a  crime  in  partner- 
ship with  her  husband  she  cannot  be  punished 
(except  for  murder  and  treason).  Husband  is 
not  required  by  law  to  support  the  family. 

Divorce:  Absolute  divorce  is  granted  for 
incurable  impotence,  adultery,  desertion  for  two 
years,  imprisonment  for  two  years  or  more,  crimes 
against  nature,  habitual  drunkenness  after  mar- 
riage ;  in  f avotu-  of  husband  if  wife  was  pregnant 
at  time  of  marriage  without  his  knowledge  or 
agency,  in  favour  of  wife  for  physical  violence  on 


176      History  of  Women's  Rights 

part  of  husband  endangering  life  or  health,  or 
when  there  is  reasonable  apprehension  of  such 
violence. 

Limited  divorce  is  granted  for  cruelty  in  either 
of  the  parties  or  any  other  cause  which  would 
justify  absolute  divorce,  if  the  party  desires  only 
a  divorce  from  bed  and  board. 

Labour  Laws  :  Women  not  allowed  to  work  in 
mines.  Children  under  12  not  permitted  to  work 
in  any  factory.  All  employers  of  women  must 
provide  seats  and  must  allow  women  to  rest 
when  not  actively  engaged. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  There  is  no  suf- 
frage. Women  not  eligible  for  any  elective  office ; 
they  may  be  notaries  public.  There  are  18  wo- 
men in  the  ministry,  12  journalists,  i  dentist,  3 
lawyers,  16  doctors,  3  professors,  2  bankers,  5 
saloon  keepers,  4  commercial  travellers,  11  car- 
penters, etc. 

Arizona 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  17. 

Population:  Male  71,795;  female  51,136. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Husband  controls  wife*s 
earnings.  Wife  has  control  of  property  which 
she  had  before  marriage.  Wife  may  contract 
debts  for  necessaries  for  herself  and  children  upon 
credit  of  husband.  She  may  sue  and  be  sued  and 
make  contracts  in  her  own  name  as  regards  her 


In  the  United  States  177 

separate  property,  but  must  sue  jointly  with 
husband  for  personal  injuries,  and  damages  re- 
covered are  community  property  and  in  his  con- 
trol. Father  is  legal  guardian  of  minor  children; 
at  his  death  mother  becomes  guardian  as  long  as 
she  remains  unmarried. 

Divorce:  Absolute  divorce  for  excesses,  cru- 
elty, or  outrage,  adultery,  impotence,  conviction 
for  a  felony,  desertion  for  one  year,  neglect  of 
husband  to  provide  for  one  year,  habitual  in- 
temperance; in  favour  of  husband  if  wife  was 
pregnant  at  time  of  marriage  without  his  know- 
ledge or  agency. 

There  is  no  limited  divorce;  but  when  the 
husband  wilfully  abandons  his  wife,  she  can  main- 
tain an  action  against  him  for  permanent  main- 
tenance and  support. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  woman  or  minor  may  work 
or  give  any  exhibition  in  a  saloon. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  Women  21  years  old 
or  more  who  are  mothers  or  guardians  of  a  child 
of  school  age  are  eligible  to  the  office  of  school 
trustee  and  may  vote  for  such  officers.  There 
are  12  women  in  the  ministry,  i  dentist,  2  jour- 
nalists, 4  lawyers,  4  doctors,  628  saloon  keepers, 
2  bankers,  etc. 

Arkansas 

Age  of  Legal  Consent  :  16. 

Population:  Male  675,312;  female  636,252. 


178      History  of  Women's  Rights 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. Dower  exists,  but  not  curtesy.  Wife  may 
sell  or  transfer  her  separate  real  estate  without 
husband's  consent.  Father  is  legal  guardian  of 
children,  but  cannot  apprentice  them  or  create 
testamentary  guardianship  for  them  without 
wife's  consent.  At  husband's  death  wife  may 
be  guardian  of  persons  of  children,  but  not  of 
their  property,  unless  derived  from  her. 

Divorce:  Absolute  or  limited  divorce  for 
impotence,  wilful  desertion  for  a  year,  when  hus- 
band or  wife  had  a  former  wife  or  husband  living 
at  the  time  of  the  marriage  sought  to  be  set  aside, 
conviction  for  felony  or  other  infamous  crime, 
habitual  drunkenness  for  one  year,  intolerable 
indignities,  and  adultery  subsequent  to  marriage. 

Labour  Laws:  Labour  contracts  of  married 
women,  approved  by  their  husbands,  are  legal 
and  binding.     No  woman  may  work  in  a  mine. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  13 
women  are  ministers,  6  journalists,  9  lawyers,  39 
doctors,  3  professors,  3  'saloon  keepers,  9  com- 
mercial travellers,  etc. 

California 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:  Male  820,531 ;  female  664,522. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. Wife  may  dispose  of  separate  property 
without  husband's  consent.     In  torts  of  a  personal 


In  the  United  States  179 

nature  she  must  sue  jointly  with  her  husband. 
Husband  is  guardian  of  minor  children;  wife  be- 
comes so  at  his  death.  Husband  must  provide 
for  family.  If  husband  has  no  property  or  is 
disabled,  wife  must  support  him  and  the  family 
out  of  her  property  or  earnings. 

Divorce:  Absolute  divorce  for  adultery,  ex- 
treme cruelty,  wilful  desertion  for  one  year,  wil- 
ful neglect  for  one  year,  habitual  intemperance 
for  one  year,  conviction  for  felony. 

There  are  no  statutory  provisions  for  limited 
divorce.  But  when  the  wife  has  any  cause  for 
action  as  provided  in  the  code,  she  may,  without 
applying  for  a  divorce,  maintain  an  action  against 
her  husband  for  permanent  support  and  main- 
tenance of  herself  or  of  herself  and  children. 

Labour  Laws  :  Sex  shall  be  no  disqualification 
for  entering  any  business,  vocation,  or  profes- 
sion. Children  under  16  may  not  be  let  out  for 
acrobatic  performances  or  any  exhibition  endan- 
gering life  or  morals.  Any  one  who  sends  a  minor 
under  the  age  of  18  to  a  saloon,  gambling  house,  or 
brothel,  is  guilty  of  a  misdemeanour.  One  day  of 
rest  each  week  must  be  given  all  employees. 

StTFFRAGE,  POLITICAL  CONDITION,   INDUSTRIAL 

AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  May 
be  elected  school  trustees.  May  be  notaries 
public.  There  are  201  women  in  the  ministry, 
52  dentists,  116  journalists,  60  lawyers,  522  doc- 
tors, 8  professors,  129  saloon  keepers,  9  bankers, 
23  commercial  travellers,  etc. 


i8o      History  of  Women's  Rights 
Colorado 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  i8. 

Population:  Male  295,332;  female  244,368. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. No  assignment  of  wages  by  a  married 
man  is  valid  without  the  consent  of  his  wife. 
Neither  dower  nor  curtesy  obtains.  Husband 
and  wife  have  same  rights  in  making  wills.  Wife 
can  sue  and  be  sued  as  if  unmarried.  She  is  joint 
guardian  of  children  with  husband  and  has  equal 
powers.     Husband  must  support  family. 

Divorce:  Absolute  divorce  for  impotence, 
when  husband  or  wife  had  a  wife  or  husband  living 
at  time  of  marriage,  adultery  subsequent  to  mar- 
riage, wilful  desertion  for  one  year,  cruelty  (in- 
cluding the  infliction  of  mental  suffering  as  well 
as  physical  violence),  neglect  to  provide  for  one 
year,  habitual  drunkenness  for  one  year,  convic- 
tion for  felony. 

There  is  no  limited  divorce. 

Labour  Laws:  Eight  hours  the  usual  day's 
work.  Children  under  12  may  not  work  in  mines; 
none  under  14  may  exhibit  in  saloons,  variety 
theatres,  or  any  place  endangering  morals.  No 
female  help  may  be  sent  to  any  place  of  bad  re- 
pute. Children  under  14  may  not  be  employed 
in  mills  or  factories.  No  woman  may  work  un- 
derground in  a  mine.  All  employers  of  women 
must  provide  seats. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 


In  the  United  States  i8i 

AND  Professional  Status:  Full  suffrage.  Wo- 
men are  eligible  to  all  offices;  lo  have  served 
in  the  Legislature.  There  are  39  women  in  the 
ministry,  23  dentists,  28  journalists,  17  lawyers, 
172  doctors,  4  professors,  17  saloon  keepers,  12 
bankers,  8  commercial  travellers,  etc. 

Connecticut 

Acfe  OF  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:  Male  454,294;  female  454,126. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. No  dower  or  curtesy.  Survivor  gets  one 
third  of  property.  Wife  controls  own  property. 
Wife  and  husband  joint  guardians  of  children  with 
equal  powers.     Husband  must  support  family. 

Divorce:  Absolute  divorce  for  adultery, 
fraudulent  contract,  wilful  desertion  for  three 
years  with  total  neglect  of  duty,  seven  years' 
absence  when  absent  party  is  not  heard  from  dur- 
ing that  period,  habitual  intemperance,  intoler- 
able cruelty,  sentence  to  imprisonment  for  life, 
any  infamous  crime  involving  a  violation  of  con- 
jugal duty  and  punishable  by  imprisonment. 
^    There  is  no  limited  divorce. 

Labour  Laws:  No  child  under  12  may  give 
exhibition  endangering  limbs  or  morals.  Em- 
ployers of  females  may  not  send  them  to  any  place 
of  bad  repute.  Eight  hours  is  a  day's  work. 
Women  employees  must  have  seats  to  rest.  No 
woman  shall  be  forced  to  labour  more  than  ten 
hours  a  day. 


i82      History  of  Women's  Rights 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  Women  have  school 
suffrage  and  may  be  elected  school  trustees. 
There  are  45  women  in  the  ministry,  6  dentists, 
122  doctors,  I  professor,  28  saloon  keepers,  4  bank- 
ers, 13  commercial  travellers,  14  carpenters,  etc. 

Delaware 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  18. 

Population:  Male  94,158;  female  90,577. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. If  there  is  a  child  or  lawful  issue  of  a  child 
living,  widow  has  a  life  interest  in  one  third  of  the 
real  estate  and  one  third  absolutely  of  the  personal 
property.  If  there  is  no  child  nor  the  descendant 
of  a  child  living,  widow  has  a  life  interest  in  one 
half  of  the  real  estate  and  one  half  absolutely  of 
the  personal  estate.  If  there  are  neither  descend- 
ants nor  kin  of  husband,  she  gets  the  entire  real 
estate  for  her  life,  and  all  the  personal  estate 
absolutely.  Father  is  legal  guardian  of  children 
and  he  alone  may  appoint  a  guardian  at  his  death. 
Husband  must  support  family. 

Divorce:  Absolute  divorce  for  adultery,  de- 
sertion for  three  years,  habitual  drunkenness,  impo- 
tence, extreme  cruelty,  conviction  for  felony, 
prociirement  of  marriage  by  fraud  for  want  of 
age,  wilful  neglect  to  provide  for  three  years. 

Limited  divorce  may  be  decreed,  in  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  court,  for  the  last  two  causes 
mentioned. 


In  the  United  States  183 

Labour  Laws  :  All  female  employees  must  be 
provided  with  seats.  Sunday  labour  forbidden. 
No  minor  under  15  may  be  let  out  for  any  gym- 
nastic or  other  exhibition  endangering  body  or 
morals.  Separate  lunch,  wash-rooms,  etc.,  for 
all  women  employees;  the  rooms  must  be  kept 
reasonably  heated.  Using  indecent  or  profane 
language  towards  a  female  employee  is  a  mis- 
demeanour. The  governor  must  appoint  a  female 
factory  inspector  who  shall  see  that  these  laws 
are  enforced.  Children  under  14  may  not  work 
in  mills  and  factories;  and  no  child  under  16  shall 
be  forced  to  labour  more  than  nine  hours  daily. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  Women  in  Milford, 
Townsend,  Wyoming,  and  Newark  who  pay  a 
property  tax  may  vote  for  Town  Commissioners. 
All  such  women  in  the  State  may  vote  for  school 
trustees.  There  are  4  women  in  the  ministry,  3 
dentists,  i  journalist,  i  lawyer,  7  doctors,  8  saloon 
keepers,  i  commercial  traveller,  2  carpenters,  etc. 

District  of  Columbia 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:    Male  132,004;  female  146,714. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  property,  may  be  sued  and  sue,  carry 
on  business,  etc.,  as  if  unmarried.  Husband  and 
wife  are  equal  guardians  of  children.  Husband 
must  furnish  reasonable  support  if  he  have  pro- 
perty.    Both  dower  and  curtesy  obtain. 


i84      History  of  Women's  Right 

Divorce:  Absolute  divorce  for  bigamy,  in- 
sanity at  time  of  marriage,  impotence,  adultery, 
habitual  drunkenness  for  three  years,  cruel  treat- 
ment endangering  life  or  health. 

Limited  divorce  for  drunkenness,  cruelty,  and 
desertion. 

In  case  of  absolute  divorce,  only  the  innocent 
party  may  remarry;  but  the  divorced  parties  may 
marry  each  other  again. 

Labour  Laws:  No  child  under  14  may  be 
let  out  for  any  public  exhibition  endangering 
body  or  morals.  Seats  must  be  provided  for 
women  employees.  Employment  agencies  must 
not  send  applicants  to  places  of  bad  repute. 
Children  under  14  may  not  be  employed  in 
any  factory,  hotel,  etc.;  but  judge  of  juvenile 
court  may  give  dispensation  to  child  between  12 
and  14.  No  girl  under  16  may  be  bootblack  or 
sell  papers  or  any  other  wares  publicly. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status  :  No  stiffrage.  Women 
may  be  notaries  public  and  members  of  Board  of 
Education.  17  women  in  the  ministry,  7  dentists, 
38  journalists,  23  lawyers,  56  doctors,  18  saloon 
keepers,  i  banker,  7  commercial  travellers,  2 
carpenters,  etc. 

Florida 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16  (but  10  practically, 
as  penalty  above  10  is  insignificant). 


In  the  United  States  185 

Population:    Male  275,246;  female  253,296. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  owns  separate  estate ;  but  cannot  transfer 
her  real  or  personal  property  without  husband's 
consent.  Dower  prevails,  but  not  curtesy.  Wife 
may  make  a  will  as  if  unmarried.  Husband  is 
legal  guardian  of  children.  Husband  must  sup- 
port family. 

Divorce:  Absolute  divorce  for  impotence, 
where  the  parties  are  within  the  degrees  prohibited 
by  the  law,  adultery,  bigamy,  extreme  cruelty, 
habitual  indulgence  in  violent  and  ungovernable 
temper,  habitual  intemperance,  desertion  for  one 
year,  if  husband  or  wife  has  obtained  a  divorce 
elsewhere  and  if  the  applicant  has  been  a  citizen 
of  Florida  for  two  years. 

There  is  no  limited  divorce.  But  the  wife  may 
claim  alimony,  without  applying  for  a  divorce, 
for  any  of  these  causes  except  bigamy. 

Labour  Laws:  Ten  hours  legal  day*s  work. 
Employers  of  women  must  provide  seats.  No 
child  imder  14  may  be  let  out  for  any  public  ex- 
hibition endangering  body  or  morals.  Sunday 
labour  forbidden.  No  child  imder  12  may  be  em- 
ployed in  any  factory,  or  any  place  where  in- 
toxicating liquor  is  sold;  and  no  child  under  12 
may  labour  more  than  nine  hours  a  day. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  Wo- 
men may  be  notaries  public.  19  women  in  the 
ministry,  i  dentist,  9  journalists,  4  lawyers,  21 


i86      History  of  Women's  Rights 

doctors,  I  banker,  3  commercial  travellers,  6  car- 
penters, etc. 


Georgia 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  10. 

Population:  Male  1,103,201 ;  female  1,113,130. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  own  property.  Dower  prevails,  but  not 
curtesy.  Husband  is  legal  guardian  of  children 
and  at  his  death  may  appoint  a  guardian  to  the 
exclusion  of  his  wife.  Husband  must  support 
family. 

Divorce:  Absolute  divorce  for  intermarriage 
within  the  prohibited  degrees  of  consanguinity 
and  affinity,  mental  incapacity  at  time  of  marriage, 
impotence  at  time  of  marriage,  force,  menace, 
duress,  or  fraud  in  obtaining  marriage,  pregnancy 
of  wife  at  time  of  marriage  unknown  to  husband, 
adultery,  wilful  desertion  for  three  years,  convic- 
tion for  an  offence  involving  imprisonment  for  two 
years  or  longer. 

Absolute  or  limited  divorce  for  cruelty  or  habit- 
ual intoxication.  Limited  divorce  for  any  ground 
held  siifficient  in  English  courts  prior  to  May  4, 
1784. 

Labour  Laws:  No  boss  or  other  superior  in 
any  factory  shall  inflict  corporal  punishment  on 
minor  labourers.  Seats  must  be  provided  for 
female  employees.  Sunday  labour  forbidden.  No 
minors  may  be  employed  in  barrooms.     To  let 


In  the  United  States  187 

out  children  for  gymnastic  exhibition  or  any  in- 
decent exhibition  is  a  misdemeanour.  Children 
under  12  may  not  work  in  factories.  No  child 
under  14  may  work  between  7  p.m.  and  6  A.M. 
Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  33 
women  in  the  ministry,  2  dentists,  37  journalists, 
6  lawyers,  43  doctors,  4  professors,  2  saloon 
keepers,  4  bankers,  9  commercial  travellers,  10 
carpenters,  etc. 

Idaho 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  18. 

Population:    Male  93,367;  female  68,405. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Husband  controls  wife's 
earnings.  Wife  can  secure  control  of  own  prop- 
erty only  by  going  into  court  and  showing  that 
her  husband  is  mismanaging  it.  Husband  is  legal 
guardian  of  the  children. 

Divorce:  Absolute  divorce  for  adultery,  ex- 
treme cruelty,  wilful  desertion  for  one  year,  wil- 
ful neglect  for  one  year,  habitual  intemperance 
for  one  year,  conviction  of  felony,  permanent 
insanity. 

There  is  no  limited  divorce. 

Labour  Laws:  No  Simday  labour.  Children 
under  14  may  not  work  in  mine,  factory,  hotel, 
or  be  messenger;  no  child  under  16  shall  work 
more  than  nine  hours  per  day ;  nor  be  let  out  for 
any  exhibition  or  vocation  which  endangers  health 


i88      History  of  Women's  Rights 

or  morals ;  nor  ever  be  sent  to  any  immoral  resort 
or  serve  or  handle  intoxicating  liquors. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status  :  Full  suffrage.  Wo- 
men are  eligible  to  all  offices.  7  women  are  in 
the  ministry,  4  journalists,  2  lawyers,  15  doctors, 
I  saloon  keeper,  i  commercial  traveller,  i  car- 
penter, etc. 

Illinois 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:  Male 2,472,782;  female 2,348,768. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. Dower  prevails.  Wife  has  full  disposal  of 
property,  can  sue,  etc.,  as  if  unmarried.  Wife 
and  husband  are  equal  guardians  of  children. 
Wife  is  entitled  to  support  suited  to  her  condition 
in  life;  husband  is  entitled  to  same  support  out 
of  her  individual  property.  They  are  jointly 
liable  for  family  expenses. 

Divorce:  Absolute  divorce  for  impotence, 
bigamy,  adultery,  wilful  desertion  for  two  years, 
habitual  drunkenness  for  two  years,  attempt  to 
murder,  extreme  and  repeated  cruelty,  conviction 
for  felony  or  other  infamous  crime. 

No  limited  divorce;  but  married  women  living 
separate  through  no  fault  of  their  own  have  an 
action  in  equity  for  reasonable  maintenance,  if 
they  so  desire. 

Labour  Laws  :    No  Sunday  labour.     No  minor 


In  the  United  States  189 

shall  be  allowed  to  sell  indecent  literature,  etc., 
nor  be  let  out  as  acrobat  or  mendicant  or  for  any 
immoral  occupation.  Eight  hours  a  legal  day's 
work.  No  person  shall  be  debarred  from  any 
occupation  or  profession  on  accoimt  of  sex;  but 
females  shall  not  be  required  to  work  on  streets  or 
roads  or  serve  on  juries.  No  child  under  14  to  be 
employed  in  any  place  where  intoxicating  liquors 
are  sold  or  in  factory  or  bowling  alley;  and  shall 
not  labour  more  than  eight  hours.  No  child  under 
16  shall  engage  in  occupations  dangerous  to  life  or 
morals;  and  no  female  under  16  shall  engage  in 
any  employment  which  requires  her  to  stand  con- 
stantly. Seats  must  be  provided  for  all  female 
employees.  No  woman  shall  work  more  than 
ten  hours  a  day  in  stores  and  factories. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status  :  Women  have  school 
suffrage  and  are  eligible  to  all  school  offices  and  can 
be  notaries  public.  There  are  292  women  in  the 
ministry,  117  dentists,  240  journalists,  113  lawyers, 
820  doctors,  31  professors,  196  saloon  keepers,  8 
bankers,  loi  commercial  travellers,  24  carpenters, 
etc. 

Indiana 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:  Males  1,285,404;  females 
1,231,058. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings.    No  dower  or  curtesy.    Wife  may  sue  in  her 


iQO   _  History  of  Women's  Rights 

own  name  for  injiiries,  etc.  Neither  husband  nor 
wife  can  alienate  their  separate  real  estate  with- 
out each  other's  consent.  A  wife  can  act  as 
executor  or  administrator  of  an  estate  only  with 
her  husband's  consent.  No  married  woman  can 
become  a  surety  for  any  person.  Husband  is 
guardian  of  children. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  impotency, 
desertion  for  two  years,  cruel  and  inhuman  treat- 
ment, habitual  drunkenness,  neglect  of  husband 
to  provide  for  two  years,  conviction  of  an  infa- 
mous crime. 

Limited  divorce  for  adultery,  desertion  or 
neglect  for  six  months,  habitual  cruelty  or  constant 
strife,  gross  and  wanton  neglect  of  conjugal  duty 
for  six  months. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  child  under  12  may  work  in 
a  mine.  Children  under  15  may  not  be  let  out  for 
acrobatic  or  any  immoral  exhibition  or  to  work  in 
any  place  where  liquor  is  sold.  Seats  must  be 
provided  for  female  employees.  Eight  hours  a 
legal  day's  work.  No  female  under  18  may 
work  more  than  ten  hours  a  day  in  any  factory, 
laundry,  renovating  works,  bakery,  or  printing 
office ;  no  woman  shall  be  employed  in  any  factory 
between  10  p.m  and  6  a.m.  Suitable  dressing 
rooms  must  be  provided  and  not  less  than  sixty 
minutes  given  for  the  noonday  meal.  Sweat- 
shops under  strict  supervision  of  a  State  inspector. 
No  woman  may  work  in  a  mine.  No  Sunday 
labour. 


In  the  United  States  191 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  Wo- 
men may  be  notaries  public.  130  women  in  the 
ministry,  34  dentists,  79  journalists,  40  lawyers, 
195  doctors,  6  professors,  2^]  saloon  keepers,  2 
bankers,  44  commercial  travellers,  7  carpenters, 
etc. 

Indian  Territory 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:    Male  208,952;  female  183,108. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Husband  controls  wife's 
earnings.  Dower  is  in  force  and  curtesy.  Wo- 
man controls  separate  estate  absolutely  in  practice ; 
for  though  at  common  law  any  money  or  property 
given  her  husband  for  investment  becomes  his, 
by  statute  it  does  not.  Husband  and  wife  are 
equal  guardians  of  children. 

Divorce:  Absolute  or  limited  for  impotence, 
wilful  desertion  for  one  year,  bigamy,  convic- 
tion for  felony  or  other  infamous  crime, 
habitual  drunkenness  for  one  year,  cruel  treat- 
ment endangering  life,  intolerable  indignities, 
adultery,  incurable  insanity  subsequent  to  mar- 
riage. 

Labour  Laws:    No  Sunday  labour. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  6 
women  in  ministry,  i  dentist,  4  journalists,  13 
doctors,  4  professors,  i  banker,  etc. 


192      History  of  Women's  Rights 
Iowa 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  15. 

Population:  Male  1,156,849;  female  1,075,004. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. Any  assignment  of  wages  must  have  writ- 
ten consent  of  both  husband  and  wife.  No  dower 
or  curtesy ;  surviving  husband  or  wife  is  entitled  to 
one  third  in  fee  simple  of  both  real  and  personal 
estate  of  other  at  his  or  her  death.  Wife  controls 
own  property,  can  sue,  etc.,  as  if  single.  Husband 
and  wife  are  equal  guardians  of  children.  Sup- 
port and  education  of  family  is  chargeable  equally 
on  husband's  and  wife's  property. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  wilful  deser- 
tion for  two  years,  conviction  of  felony  after  mar- 
riage, habitual  drunkenness,  inhuman  treatment 
endangering  life,  pregnancy  of  wife  at  time  of 
marriage  by  another  man,  unless  the  husband 
have  an  illegitimate  child  living  imknown  to  wife. 

No  limited  divorce. 

Annulment  for  prohibited  degrees,  impotence, 
bigamy,  insanity  or  idiocy  at  time  of  marriage. 

Labour  Laws:  No  female  may  be  employed 
in  any  place  where  intoxicating  liquors  are  sold. 
Seats  must  be  provided  for  female  employees. 
Children  imder  16  not  to  assist  in  operating 
dangerous  machinery.  No  Sunday  labour.  No 
person  under  14  may  work  in  a  factory,  mine, 
laundry,  slaughter-house,  store  where  more  than 
eight  persons  are  employed;   no  child  under  16 


In  the  United  States  193 

shall  be  employed  in  any  vocation  endangering 
life  or  morals,  nor  shall  work  more  than  ten  hours 
a  day. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  Women  have  bond 
suffrage  and  can  vote  on  increase  of  taxes.  They 
may  serve  as  school  trustees  and  superintendents. 
117  women  in  ministry,  52  dentists,  74  journalists, 
53  lawyers,  260  doctors,  2^]  professors,  8  saloon 
keepers,  11  bankers,  34  commercial  travellers,  7 
carpenters,  etc. 

Kansas 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  18. 

Population:    Male  768,716;  female  701,779. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. Husband  and  wife  are  equal  guardians  of 
children.  Wife  controls  her  separate  property,  can 
sue,  etc.,  as  if  unmarried.  Neither  husband  nor 
wife  can  convey  or  encumber  real  estate  without 
consent  of  other ;  nor  dispose  by  will  of  more  than 
one  half  of  the  separate  property  without  other's 
consent.  If  there  are  no  children,  the  surviving 
husband  or  wife  takes  all  the  property,  real  and 
personal;  if  there  are  children,  one  half.  Hus- 
band must  support  family. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  bigamy,  desertion  for 
one  year,  adultery,  impotency,  when  wife  at 
time  of  marriage  was  pregnant  by  another  than 
her  husband,  extreme  cruelty,  fraudulent  contract, 

Z3 


194      History  of  Women's  Rights 

habitual  drunkenness,  gross  neglect  of  duty,  con- 
viction and  imprisonment  for  felony  subsequent 
to  marriage. 

No  limited  divorce ;  but  wife  may  obtain  alimony 
without  divorce  for  any  causes  above  mentioned. 

Labour  Laws  :  People  employing  children  un- 
der 14  in  acrobatic  or  mendicant  occupations 
are  guilty  of  a  misdemeanour.  No  Sunday  labour. 
Seats  must  be  provided  for  female  employees. 
No  child  under  14  may  work  in  coal  mine,  nor 
in  any  factory  or  packing  house.  No  child  imder 
16  may  work  at  any  occupation  endangering 
body  or  morals. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  Women  have  mu- 
nicipal, school,  and  bond  suffrage.  63  women 
in  ministry,  21  dentists,  39  journalists,  43  lawyers, 
190  doctors,  21  professors,  9  saloon  keepers,  7 
bankers,  20  commercial  travellers,  19  carpenters, 
etc. 

Kentucky 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  12. 

Population  :  Male  i  ,090,227 ;  female  1,056,947. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Husband  controls  wife's 
earnings.  Curtesy  and  dower  are  equalised. 
After  the  death  of  either  husband  or  wife,  the 
survivor  is  given  a  life  interest  in  one  third  of  the 
realty  of  the  deceased  and  an  absolute  estate  in 
one  half  of  the  personalty.     Wife  controls  her 


In  the  United  States  195 

personal  property,  but  cannot  dispose  of  real 
estate  without  husband's  consent;  the  husband 
can  convey  real  estate  without  his  wife's  signature, 
but  it  is  subject  to  her  dower.  Husband  is  legal 
guardian  of  children.  He  must  furnish  support 
according  to  his  condition,  but  if  he  has  only  his 
wages  there  is  no  law  to  punish  him  for  non- 
support. 

i  Divorce:  Absolute  to  both  husband  and  wife 
for  impotence  or  inability  to  copulate  and  for 
living  apart  for  five  consecutive  years  without 
any  cohabitation.  Also  to  the  party  not  in  fault 
for  desertion  for  one  year,  adultery,  condemnation 
for  felony,  concealment  of  any  loathsome  disease 
at  time  of  marriage  or  contracting  it  afterwards, 
force,  duress,  or  fraud  in  obtaining  marriage, 
uniting  with  any  creed  or  religious  society  re- 
quiring a  renunciation  of  the  marriage  covenant 
or  forbidding  husband  and  wife  to  cohabit.  To 
the  wife,  when  not  in  like  fault,  for  confirmed 
drunkenness  of  husband  leading  to  neglect  to 
provide,  habitual  behaviour  by  husband  for  six 
months  indicating  aversion  to  wife  and  causing 
her  imhappiness,  physical  injury  or  attempt  at 
it.  To  the  husband  for  wife's  pregnancy  at  time 
of  marriage  imknown  to  him,  adultery  of  wife,  or 
such  conduct  as  proves  her  to  be  unchaste  with- 
out proof  of  adultery,  and  habitual  drunkenness 
of  wife. 

Limited  divorce  for  any  of  these  causes  or  any 
other  cause  as  the  court  may  deem  siiificient. 


196       History  of  Women's  Rights 

Labour  Laws  :  Forbidden  to  let  or  employ  any 
children  under  16  in  any  acrobatic  or  mendicant 
or  immoral  occupations.  No  Sunday  labour.  No 
child  under  14  shall  work  in  factory,  mill,  or  mine 
imless  said  child  shall  have  no  other  means  of 
support.  No  child  under  16  shall  work  more 
than  ten  hours  per  day.  Seats  and  suitable 
dressing-rooms  must  be  provided  for  female 
employees. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  In  the  country  dis- 
tricts any  widow  having  a  child  of  school  age  and 
any  widow  or  spinster  having  a  ward  of  school  age 
may  vote  for  school  trustees  and  school  taxes. 
In  Louisville,  five  third-class,  and  twenty  or  more 
fourth-class  cities  no  woman  has  any  vote.  Wo- 
men may  be  notaries  public.  39  women  in  minis- 
try, 4  dentists,  21  journalists,  16  lawyers,  98 
doctors,  5  professors,  35  saloon  keepers,  3  bankers, 
20  commercial  travellers,  9  carpenters,  etc. 

Louisiana 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:    Male  694,733;  female  686,892. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Husband  controls  wife's 
earnings.  Wife  cannot  appear  in  court  without 
her  husband's  consent,  and  needs  this  consent  in 
all  matters  connected  with  her  separate  estate. 
She  may  make  her  will  without  the  authority  of 
her  husband.     No  woman  can  be  a  witness  to  a 


In  the  United  States  197 

testament.  No  married  woman  can  be  executor 
without  husband's  consent.  The  dowry  is  given 
to  the  husband,  for  him  to  enjoy  as  long  as  the 
marriage  shall  last.  Husband  is  legal  guardian 
of  children. 

Divorce:  Absolute  or  limited  for  adultery, 
condemnation  to  an  infamous  punishment,  habit- 
ual and  intolerable  intemperance,  insupportable 
excess  or  outrages,  public  defamation  on  the 
part  of  one  of  the  married  persons  toward  the 
other,  desertion,  attempted  murder,  proof  of 
guilt  of  husband  or  wife  who  has  fled  from  justice 
when  charged  with  an  infamous  offence. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  female  to  be  employed  in 
any  place  where  liquor  is  sold.  No  Sunday  labour. 
No  child  under  15  to  engage  in  any  acrobatic  or 
theatrical  public  exhibition.  Seats  must  be  pro- 
vided for  female  employees,  who  are  also  to  have 
at  least  thirty  minutes  for  lunch.  No  girl  under  14 
may  be  employed  in  any  mill  or  factory;  and  no 
woman  shall  be  worked  more  than  ten  hours  a 
day.  Seats,  suitable  dressing-rooms,  and  stairs 
must  be  provided.  An  inspector,  male  or  female, 
is  appointed. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  Tax-paying  women 
can  vote  on  all  questions  of  taxation.  14  women 
in  ministry,  4  dentists,  21  journalists,  8  lawyers, 
25  doctors,  16  professors,  31  saloon  keepers,  2 
bankers',  18  commercial  travellers,  9  carpenters, 
etc. 


198      History  of  Women's  Rights 
Maine 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:    Male  350,995;  female  343,471. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  has  full  control  of  separate  property. 
Wife  and  husband  are  equal  guardians  of  children. 
If  there  is  no  will,  the  interest  of  the  husband  or 
wife  in  the  real  estate  of  the  other  is  the  same — 
one  third  absolutely,  if  there  is  issue  living,  one 
half  if  there  is  no  issue,  the  whole  if  there  is 
neither  issue  nor  kindred. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  impotence, 
extreme  cruelty,  desertion  for  three  years,  gross 
and  confirmed  habits  of  intoxication  whether  from 
liquors  or  drugs,  cruel  and  abusive  treatment, 
wilful  neglect  to  provide. 

No  limited  divorce. 

Labour  Laws:  Ten  hours  a  day  the  legal 
limit  for  female  employees.  No  child  under 
14  may  work  in  a  factory.  No  Sunday  labour. 
No  child  under  16  may  be  employed  in  any 
acrobatic,  mendicant,  immoral,  or  dangerous 
occupation. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  Wo- 
men can  be  justices  of  the  peace,  town  clerks,  and 
registers  of  probate.  They  cannot  be  notaries 
public.  39  women  in  ministry,  4  dentists,  33 
journalists,  4  lawyers,  67  doctors,  i  professor,  3 
bankers,  5  carpenters,  etc. 


In  the  United  States  199 

Maryland 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:  Male  589,275;  female  598,769. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. No  assignment  of  wages  to  be  made  with- 
out consent  of  both  husband  and  wife.  Wife 
controls  separate  property  absolutely.  Inheritance 
of  property  is  the  same  for  widow  and  widower. 
Husband  is  legal  guardian  of  children  and  must 
support  family. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  impotence,  any  cause 
which  by  the  laws  of  the  State  renders  a  mar- 
riage null  and  void  ah  initio,  adultery,  desertion 
for  three  years,  illicit  sexual  intercourse  of  the  woman 
before  marriage  unknown  to  husband  {hut  the  wife 
caftnot  ohtain  a  divorce  from  her  hushand  if  he  has 
heen  guilty  of  such  an  offence).  Limited  divorce 
for  cruelty,  excessively  vicious  conduct,  or  de- 
sertion. In  all  cases  where  an  absolute  divorce  is 
granted  for  adultery  or  abandonment,  the  court 
may  decree  that  the  guilty  party  shall  not  con- 
tract marriage  with  any  other  person  during  the 
lifetime  of  the  other  party.  Annulment  is  given 
for  bigamy  or  marriage  within  the  prohibited 
degrees  of  consanguinity  and  affinity. 

Labour  Laws:  Seats  must  be  provided  for 
female  employees.  No  Simday  labour.  No  child 
under  14  may  be  employed  in  any  mendicant  or 
acrobatic  occupation.  No  child  under  8  may  be 
employed  in  peddling.     Women  may  not  be  wait- 


200      History  of  Women's  Rights 

resses  in  any  place  where  liquor  is  sold.  Children 
under  12  may  not  be  employed  in  any  business 
except  in  the  counties,  from  June  i  to  Oct.  15. 
Ten  hours  a  legal  day's  work. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  Wo- 
men serve  as  notaries  public.  35  women  in 
ministry,  6  dentists,  23  journalists,  6  lawyers,  87 
doctors,  4  professors,  2  bankers,  13  commercial 
travellers,  10  carpenters,  etc. 

Massachusetts 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:  Male  1,367,474;  female  1,437,872. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  has  control  of  her  separate  property  sub- 
ject only  to  the  husband's  interests.  She  can 
be  executor,  make  contracts,  etc.,  as  if  unmarried. 
The  husband  is  legal  guardian  of  minor  children; 
he  may  dispose  of  them  and  may  appoint  a 
guardian  at  his  death.  Husband  must  support 
family.  In  distributing  the  estate,  no  distinc- 
tion is  made  between  real  and  personal  property. 
The  surviving  husband  or  wife  takes  one  third, 
if  deceased  leaves  children  or  their  descendants; 
5000  dollars  and  one  half  of  the  remaining  estate 
if  the  deceased  leaves  no  issue;  and  the  whole,  if 
deceased  leaves  no  kin.  This  is  taken  absolutely 
and  not  for  life.  Curtesy  and  dower  exist;  but 
the  old-time  curtesy  is  cut  down  to  a  life-interest 


In  the  United  States  201 

in  one  third,  the  same  as  dower;  and  in  order  to  be 
entitled  to  dower  or  curtesy,  the  surviving  hus- 
band or  wife  must  elect  to  take  it  in  preference  to 
the  above  provisions. 

!  Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  impotency, 
utter  desertion  for  three  years,  gross  and  confirmed 
habits  of  intoxication,  cruel  and  abusive  treat- 
ment, wilful  neglect  to  provide,  sentence  to  im- 
prisonment for  five  years. 

No  limited  divorce. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  Sunday  labour.  Ten  hours 
a  legal  day's  work.  No  woman  to  labour  between 
10  P.M.  and  6  a.m.  in  any  manufacturing  establish- 
ment, nor  between  6  p.m.  and  6  a.m.  in  any  textile 
works.  No  child  under  14  and  no  illiterate  under 
16  and  over  14  may  be  employed  in  any  factory 
or  mercantile  establishment.  No  child  under  14 
may  be  employed  between  7  p.m.  and  6  a.m.,  or 
during  the  time  when  the  public  schools  are  in 
session.  Seats  must  be  provided  for  females. 
No  woman  or  young  person  shall  be  required  to 
work  more  than  six  hours  without  thirty  minutes 
for  lunch.  No  child  under  15  may  engage  in  any 
gymnastic  or  theatrical  exhibition. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status  :  Women  have  school 
suffrage.  They  may  be  justices  of  the  peace. 
188  women  in  ministry,  38  dentists,  180  journal- 
ists, 47  lawyers,  729  doctors,  38  professors,  8 
saloon  keepers,  3  bankers,  73  commercial  travel- 
lers, 31  carpenters,  etc. 


202       History  of  Women's  Rights 
Michigan 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  i6. 

Population :   Male  i ,248,905 ;  female  i,  172,077. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Husband  controls  wife's 
earnings.  Dower  prevails,  but  not  curtesy. 
When  the  wife  has  separate  real  estate,  she  con- 
trols it  as  if  single.  The  husband  cannot  give 
full  title  to  his  real  estate  unless  the  wife  joins  so 
as  to  cut  off  her  dower.  Father  is  guardian  of  the 
children.     Husband  must  support. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  impotence, 
imprisonment  for  three  years,  desertion  for  two 
years,  habitual  drimkenness,  if  husband  or  wife 
has  obtained  a  divorce  in  another  State. 

Limited  or  absolute  divorce  at  the  discretion 
of  the  court  for  extreme  cruelty,  desertion  for  two 
years,  neglect  to  provide. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  female  may  be  employed  in 
any  place  where  liquor  is  sold.  Seats  must  be 
provided  for  female  employees.  Ten  hours  a 
legal  day's  work.  No  Sunday  labour.  No  child 
under  16  may  take  part  in  any  acrobatic  or  men- 
dicant or  dangerous  or  immoral  occupation,  nor 
shall  any  minor  be  given  obscene  literature  to 
sell.  No  female  under  21  may  be  employed  in 
any  occupation  endangering  life,  health,  or  morals. 
At  least  forty-five  minutes  must  be  allowed  for 
lunch. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND    Professional    Status:    All   women    who 


In  the  United  States  203 

pay  taxes  may  vote  upon  questions  of  local 
taxation  and  the  granting  of  franchises.  Parents 
and  guardians  have  also  school  suffrage.  Wo- 
men serve  as  notaries  public.  105  women  in 
ministry,  17  dentists,  81  journalists,  2"]  lawyers, 
270  doctors,  26  professors,  23  saloon  keepers,  13 
bankers,  53  commercial  travellers,  32  carpenters, 
etc. 

Minnesota 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:    Male  932,490;  female  818,904. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings, but  cannot  convey  or  encumber  her  separate 
real  estate  without  husband's  consent.  No  dower 
or  curtesy.  If  either  husband  or  wife  die  in- 
testate, the  survivor,  if  there  is  issue  living,  is 
entitled  to  the  homestead  for  life  and  one  third 
of  the  rest  of  the  estate  in  fee  simple.  If  there 
are  no  descendants,  the  entire  estate  goes  abso- 
lutely to  the  survivor.  Husband  is  guardian  of 
children  and  must  support  family. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  impotency, 
cruel  and  inhuman  treatment,  sentence  to  im- 
prisonment after  marriage,  wilful  desertion  for 
one  year,  habitual  drunkenness  for  one  year. 

Limited  divorce — to  wife  only — for  cruel  and 
inhuman  treatment,  on  part  of  husband,  or  such 
conduct  as  may  make  it  unsafe  and  improper  for 
her  to  cohabit  with  him,  desertion  and  neglect  to 
provide. 


204      History  of  Women's  Rights 

Labour  Laws:  Children  between  8  and  i8  must 
be  sent  to  school  during  whole  period  schools  are 
in  session,  except  in  cases  of  unusual  poverty. 
Ten  hours  a  legal  day's  work.  Seats  must  be  pro- 
vided for  female  employees.  No  Sunday  labour. 
No  child  under  i8  may  engage  in  any  occupation 
between  6  p.m.  and  7  a.m.  ;  nor  in  any  mendicant, 
acrobatic,  immoral,  or  dangerous  business.  No 
child  under  14  may  work  in  factory  or  mine. 
A  female  factory  inspector  must  be  appointed. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status  :  Women  have  school 
suffrage  and  may  vote  for  library  trustees.  80 
women  in  ministry,  18  dentists,  75  journalists, 
21  lawyers,  199  doctors,  16  professors,  17  saloon 
keepers,  10  bankers,  46  commercial  travellers,  8 
carpenters,  etc. 

Mississippi 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  10. 

Population:    Male  781,451;  female  769,819. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Husband  controls  wife's 
earnings.  He  manages  her  separate  property, 
but  must  give  an  account  of  it  annually.  No 
dower  or  curtesy.  If  husband  or  wife  dies  in- 
testate, the  entire  estate  goes  to  the  survivor;  if 
there  is  issue,  surviving  husband  or  wife  has  a 
child's  share  of  the  estate.  Each  has  equal  rights 
in  making  a  will.  Father  is  legal  guardian  of 
children,  but  cannot  deprive  mother  of  custody 
of  their  persons.     Husband  must  support. 


In  the  United  States  205 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  marriage  within  pro- 
hibited degrees,  natural  impotence,  adultery, 
sentence  to  the  penitentiary,  wilful  desertion  for 
two  years,  habitual  drunkenness  or  excessive  use 
of  drugs,  habitually  cruel  treatment,  pregnancy  of 
wife  at  time  of  marriage  unknown  to  husband, 
bigamy,  insanity,  or  idiocy  when  party  applying 
did  not  know  of  it. 

No  limited  divorce.  The  court  may  decree 
that  the  guilty  party  must  not  marry  again. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  Simday  labour.  There  are 
no  other  laws. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status  :  A  woman  as  a  free- 
holder or  lease-holder  may  vote  at  a  county 
election  to  decide  as  to  the  adoption  or  non- 
adoption  of  a  law  permitting  stock  to  run  at 
large.  If  a  widow  and  the  head  of  a  family,  she 
may  vote  on  leasing  certain  portions  of  land  in  the 
township  which  are  set  apart  for  school  purposes. 
Widows  in  country  districts  may  also  vote  for 
school  trustees.  Women  cannot  be  notaries 
public.  13  women  in  ministry,  2  dentists,  19 
journalists,  4  lawyers,  16  doctors,  3  professors, 
I  saloon  keeper,  3  bankers,  9  commercial  travel- 
lers, 13  carpenters,  etc. 

Missouri 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  18. 

Population:   Male  1,595,710; female  1,510,955. 

Husband    and    Wife:     Wife    controls    own 


2o6      History  of  Women's  Rights 

earnings.  Her  separate  property  is  liable  for 
debts  contracted  by  the  husband  for  necessaries 
for  the  family.  Wife  can  sue  and  be  sued,  make 
contracts,  etc.,  in  her  own  name.  She  may  hold 
real  property  under  three  different  tenures:  an 
equitable  separate  estate  created  by  certain  techni- 
cal words  in  the  conveyance,  and  this  she  can  dis- 
pose of  without  husband's  consent ;  a  legal  separate 
estate,  which  she  cannot  convey  without  his 
joinder ;  and  a  common  law  estate  in  fee,  of  which 
the  husband  is  entitled  to  the  rents  and  profits. 
Dower  and  curtesy  prevail.  Husband  is  guardian 
of  children  and  must  support. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  impotence,  bigamy, 
adultery,  desertion  for  one  year,  conviction  for 
felony  or  infamous  crime,  habitual  dnmkenness 
for  one  year,  cruel  treatment  endangering  life 
or  intolerable  indignities,  vagrancy  of  husband, 
pregnancy  of  wife  at  time  of  marriage  unknown 
to  husband. 

No  limited  divorce. 

Labour  Laws  :  Seats  must  be  provided  for  fe- 
male employees.  No  woman  may  be  employed 
in  any  place  where  liquor  is  served  except  wife, 
daughter,  mother,  or  sister  of  owner.  No  child 
under  14  to  engage  in  any  acrobatic,  mendicant, 
dangerous,  or  immoral  occupation.  No  Simday 
labour.  No  female  may  work  underground  in  a 
mine.  Children  between  8  and  14  must  go  to 
school.  No  child  under  14  may  work  in  any 
theatre,  concert  hall,  factory;  but  this  applies 


In  the  United  States  207 

only  to  cities  with  10,000  or  more  inhabitants. 
No  female  may  labour  more  than  54  hours  a  week. 
Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  Wo- 
men may  be  notaries  public.  138  women  in 
ministry,  32  dentists,  87  journalists,  61  lawyers, 
303  doctors,  17  professors,  44  saloon  keepers, 
30  bankers,  37  commercial  travellers,  15  carpen- 
ters, etc. 

Montana 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:    Male  149,842;  female  93,487. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. There  is  dower,  but  not  curtesy.  Wife 
controls  separate  property.  Husband  is  guardian 
of  children  and  must  furnish  support;  but  wife 
must  help,  if  necessary.  Her  personal  property  is 
subject  to  debts  incurred  for  family  expenses. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  extreme 
cruelty,  wilful  desertion,  wilful  neglect,  habitual 
intemperance,  conviction  of  felony. 

No  limited  divorce ;  but  wife  may  have  an  action 
for  permanent  maintenance,  at  discretion  of  court, 
even  though  absolute  divorce  is  denied. 

Labour  Laws:  Children  under  16  may  not  be 
employed  in  mines.  Children  between  8  and  14 
must  go  to  school.  No  child  under  16  may  take 
part  in  any  acrobatic,  mendicant,  or  wandering 
occupation.     No  Sunday  laboiu*.     No  child  imder 


2o8      History  of  Women's  Rights 

1 6  may  work  in  mill,  factory,  railroad,  in  any 
place  where  machinery  is  operated,  or  in  any 
messenger  company. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  Women  may  vote 
for  school  trustees.  Those  owning  property  may 
vote  on  all  questions  submitted  to  \  tax-payers. 
They  cannot  be  notaries  public.  22  women  in 
ministry,  3  dentists,  6  journalists,  3  lawyers,  16 
doctors,  7  saloon  keepers,  2  commercial  travellers, 
2  carpenters,  etc. 

Nehrasha 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  18. 

Population  :    Male  564,592 ;  female  501 ,708. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  separate  property.  Both  dower  and 
curtesy  prevail;  but  wife  can  mortgage  or  sell 
her  real  estate  without  husband's  consent  and 
without  regard  for  his  right  of  curtesy.  He  can 
do  the  same  with  his  separate  property,  but  sub- 
ject to  her  dower.  Husband  and  wife  are  equal 
guardians  of  the  children.  Husband  must  provide ; 
but  wife's  separate  property  can  be  levied  on 
for  necessaries  furnished  the  family,  if  husband 
has  no  property.  Wife  is  not  "next  of  kin"  and 
cannot  sue,  for  example,  for  damages  to  a  minor 
child,  even  though  she  is  divorced  and  has  custody 
of  children. 

Divorce:    Absolute  for  adultery,  impotence, 


In  the  United  States  209 

imprisonment  for  three  years,  desertion  for  two 
years,  habitual  drunkenness,  imprisonment  for 
life,  extreme  cruelty,  neglect  to  provide. 

Limited  divorce  also  for  last  three  causes.  An- 
nulment for  bigamy,  when  one  party  is  white 
and  other  has  one  fourth  or  more  negro  blood, 
insanity  or  idiocy  at  time  of  marriage,  consan- 
guinity, obtaining  marriage  by  fraud  or  force, 
when  there  has  been  no  subsequent  cohabitation. 

Labour  Laws:  Children  must  go  to  school 
between  7  and  15.  Ten  hours  a  legal  day's  la- 
bour. Sunday  labour  forbidden.  Females  to  be  em- 
ployed between  6  a.m.  and  10  p.m.  Seats  must  be 
provided.  No  child  imder  14  may  be  employed 
in  any  place  where  liquor  is  sold,  factory,  hotel, 
laundry,  messenger  work.  No  child  under  14 
may  be  employed  at  all  during  school  term. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  Women  who  are 
mothers  of  children  of  school  age  or  who  are  as- 
sessed on  real  or  personal  property  have  school 
suffrage ;  but  they  cannot  vote  for  State  or  county 
superintendents  or  coimty  supervisors.  Women 
act  as  notaries  public.  95  women  in  ministry, 
16  dentists,  35  journalists,  23  lawyers,  134  doctors, 
II  professors,  10  saloon  keepers,  15  commercial 
travellers,  12  carpenters,  etc. 

Nevada 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  14. 
14 


210      History  of  Women's  Rights 

Population:    Male  25,603;  female  16,732. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. She  may  control  her  separate  property, 
if  a  list  of  it  is  filed  with  the  county  recorder,  but 
imless  it  is  kept  constantly  inventoried  and  re- 
corded, it  becomes  community  property.  The 
community  property,  both  real  and  personal,  is 
under  absolute  control  of  husband  and  at  wife's 
death  it  all  belongs  to  him.  On  death  of  the  hus- 
band, wife  is  entitled  to  half  of  it.  A  wife's 
earnings  are  hers  if  her  husband  has  allowed  her 
to  appropriate  them  to  her  own  use,  when  they 
are  regarded  as  a  gift  from  him  to  her.  Hus- 
band is  legal  guardian  of  children.  Husband 
must  provide;  but  there  is  no  penalty  if  he  does 
not. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  impotence,  adultery 
since  marriage  remaining  imforgiven,  wilful  de- 
sertion for  one  year,  conviction  for  felony  or 
infamous  crime,  habitual  dnmkenness  which  in- 
capacitates party  from  contributing  his  or  her 
share  to  support  of  family,  extreme  cruelty,  wil- 
ful neglect  to  provide  for  one  year. 

No  limited  divorce. 

Labour  Laws:  There  are  none  dealing  with 
women  and  children. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  Wo- 
men cannot  serve  as  notaries  public.  2  women  in 
ministry,  4  dentists,  i  journalist,  i  lawyer,  6 
doctors,  5  saloon  keepers. 


In  the  United  States  211 

New  Hampshire 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population  :    Male  205 ,379 ;  female  206,209. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. Dower  and  curtesy  prevail.  Wife  can 
sue  and  be  sued  and  make  contracts  without  hus- 
band's consent.  Husband  is  legal  guardian  of 
children,  and  must  provide. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  impotence,  adultery, 
extreme  cruelty,  imprisonment  for  one  year, 
treatment  seriously  injuring  health  or  endanger- 
ing reason,  absence  for  three  years  without  being 
heard  from,  habitual  drunkenness  for  three  years, 
joining  any  religious  sect  which  believes  relation 
of  husband  and  wife  unlawful,  desertion  for  three 
years  with  neglect  to  provide. 

No  limited  divorce. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  child  imder  12  may  be  em- 
ployed in  any  factory,  nor  any  child  under  14 
while  schools  are  in  session.  Nine  hours  and  forty 
minutes  the  legal  limit  for  female  labour  per  day. 
No  child  imder  14  shall  engage  in  any  acrobatic 
exhibition  or  in  the  selling  of  obscene  literature. 
No  Sunday  laboiu*.  Seats  must  be  provided  for 
female  employees.  No  female  may  sell  or  serve 
liquor. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status  :  Women  have  school 
suffrage.  They  may  be  notaries  public.  25 
women  in  ministry,  3  dentists,  12  journalists,  2 


212       History  of  Women's  Rights 

lawyers,  6i  doctors,  3  professors,  9  saloon  keepers, 
6  commercial  travellers,  5  carpenters,  etc. 


New  Jersey 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:    Male  941,760;  female  941,909. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. Dower  and  curtesy  prevail.  She  has  full 
disposal  of  her  personal  property  by  will;  but 
must  get  husband's  consent  to  convey  or  encum- 
ber her  separate  estate.  Husband  is  guardian  of 
children.  Husband  must  furnish  support;  but 
wife  must  contribute,  if  he  is  unable. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  bigamy,  marriage 
within  prohibited  degrees,  adultery,  wilful  de- 
sertion for  two  years,  impotence. 

Limited  divorce  for  extreme  cruelty. 

In  case  of  desertion  and  neglect  to  provide, 
wife  has  an  action  for  support. 

Labour  Laws:  Seats  must  be  provided  for 
female  employees.  Hours  for  labour  must  be 
from  7  A.M.  to  12  M.  and  from  i  p.m  to  6  p.m.,  ex- 
cept in  fruit  canning  and  glass  factories.  Sunday 
labour  forbidden.  No  child  under  18  may  engage 
in  any  acrobatic,  immoral,  or  mendicant  occupa- 
tion. No  child  imder  15  may  engage  in  any  voca- 
tion unless  he  or  she  shall  have  attended  school 
within  twelve  months  immediately  preceding.  No 
child  under  14  may  work  in  a  factory.     No  female 


In  the  United  States  213 

employee   shall   be   sent   to   any   place   of   bad 
repute. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  Women  in  villages 
and  country  districts  have  school  suffrage.  They 
may  be  notaries  public.  ^7  women  in  ministry, 
19  dentists,  45  journalists,  23  lawyers,  176  doctors, 
4  professors,  208  saloon  keepers,  4  bankers,  11 
commercial  travellers,  12  carpenters,  etc. 

New  Mexico 

Age  of  Legal  Consent  :  14. 

Population:    Male  104,228;  female  91,082. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. Curtesy  prevails.  Neither  husband  nor 
wife  can  convey  real  property  without  consent 
of  other.  Husband  is  legal  guardian  of  children, 
but  is  not  required  by  law  to  support  the  family. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  cruel  treat- 
ment, desertion,  impotency,  neglect  to  provide, 
habitual  drimkenness,  conviction  for  felony  and 
imprisonment  subsequent  to  marriage,  pregnancy 
of  wife  at  time  of  marriage  unknown  to  husband. 

No  limited  divorce.  But  when  husband  and 
wife  have  permanently  separated,  wife  has  an  ac- 
tion for  support. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  Sunday  labour.  There  are 
no  other  laws  relating  to  women  and  children. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
and  Professional  Status:    No  suffrage.    Wo- 


214      History  of  Women's  Rights 

men  may  be  notaries  public.  lo  women  in  min- 
istry, 2  dentists,  5  doctors,  3  professors,  2  saloon 
keepers,  i  commercial  traveller,  3  carpenters,  etc. 

New  York 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  18.  (Trials  may  be 
held  privately,  and  it  is  almost  impossible  to  secure 
a  conviction.) 

Population:  Male 3,614,780; female  3,654,1 14. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. Dower  and  curtesy  prevail.  Wife  holds 
separate  property  free  from  control  of  husband. 
Both  husband  and  wife  can  make  wills  without 
knowledge  or  consent  of  other.  Wife  can  mort- 
gage or  convey  her  whole  estate  without  husband's 
consent ;  he  can  do  this  with  his  personal  property ; 
but  not  with  his  real  estate.  Husband  and  wife 
are  equal  guardians  of  the  children.  Husband 
must  provide. 

Divorce:    Absolute  for  adultery  only. 

Limited  for  cruelty,  conduct  rendering  cohabi- 
tation unsafe  or  improper,  desertion,  neglect  to 
provide. 

Court  refuses  to  allow  party  guilty  of  adultery 
to  marry  again,  but  may  modify  this  after  five 
years  if  conduct  of  defendant  has  been  imiformly 
good.     Adultery  is  now  a  crime  in  New  York. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  child  under  16  may  take  part 
in  any  acrobatic,  mendicant,  theatrical,  wander- 
ing, dangerous,  or  immoral  occupation.     Children 


In  the  United  States  215 

must  attend  school  between  8  and  16.  No  child 
under  14  may  be  employed  in  any  occupation 
during  school  term.  Eight  hours  a  day's  work. 
Seat§  must  be  provided  for  female  employees. 
No  child  under  14  may  work  in  a  factory.  Female 
labour  is  confined  between  6  a.m.  and  9  p.m.,  and 
must  not  exceed  10  hours.  No  girl  under  16 
shall  sell  papers  or  periodicals  in  any  public  place. 
Female  employment  agencies  may  not  send  ap- 
plicant to  any  place  of  bad  repute. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  Tax-paying  women 
in  towns  and  villages  may  vote  on  questions  of 
local  taxation.  Parents  and  widows  with  children 
have  school  suffrage  in  towns  and  villages.  Wo- 
men may  be  notaries  public.  511  women  in 
ministry,  108  dentists,  365  journalists,  124  lawyers, 
103  commercial  travellers,  925  doctors,  49  profes- 
sors, 348  saloon  keepers,  81  bankers,  84  carpen- 
ters, etc. 

North  Carolina 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  14. 

Population:    Male  938,677;  female  955,133. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. Dower  and  curtesy  prevail.  Wife  con- 
trols separate  property.  Wife  is  not  bound  by  a 
contract  imless  husband  joins  in  writing.  In 
actions  against  her  he  must  be  served  with 
the  suit.     Wife  cannot   be  sole   trader   without 


2i6      History  of  Women's  Rights 

husband's  written  consent.  Husband  is  legal 
guardian  of  children,  and  must  provide. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  impotence, 
pregnancy  of  wife  at  time  of  marriage  unknown  to 
husband. 

Limited  for  desertion,  turning  partner  mali- 
ciously out  of  doors,  cruel  treatment  endangering 
life,  intolerable  indignities,  habitual  drunkenness. 

Wife  has  an  action  for  separate  maintenance 
if  husband  neglects  to  provide  or  is  a  drunkard 
or  spendthrift. 

Labour  Laws:  No  Sunday  labour.  No  child 
under  12  may  be  employed  in  factory,  except 
oyster  canning  concerns  which  pay  for  opening 
oysters  by  the  bushel.  No  person  under  18  shall 
be  required  to  labour  more  than  66  hours  per 
week.  No  child  under  12  shall  work  in  a  mine. 
No  boy  or  girl  under  14  shall  work  in  a  factory 
between  8  p.m.  and  5  a.m. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
and  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  Wo- 
men cannot  be  notaries  public.  25  women  in 
ministry,  6  journalists,  22  doctors,  2  professors, 
2  saloon  keepers,  3  bankers,  4  commercial  travel- 
lers, 6  carpenters,  etc. 

North  Dakota 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  18. 

Population:    Male  177,493;  female  141,653. 

Husband  and  Wife  :     Wife  controls  own  earn- 


c 
UNIV 

■""^n  the  United  States  217 

ings  and  separate  property  absolutely.  Dower 
and  curtesy  do  not  prevail;  if  husband  or  wife  dies 
intestate,  survivor  takes  one  half  of  the  estate,  if 
there  is  only  one  child  living  or  the  lawful  issue 
of  one  child;  if  there  are  more,  survivor  gets  one 
third.  If  husband  is  unable  to  support  family, 
wife  must  maintain  him  and  the  children.  Hus- 
band is  guardian  of  children. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  extreme  cru- 
elty, wilful  desertion  for  one  year,  wilful  neg- 
lect for  one  year,  habitual  intemperance  for  one 
year,  conviction  of  felony. 

No  limited  divorce. 

Labour  Laws:  Children  under  12  may  not 
work  in  mines,  factories,  or  workshops.  Children 
must  go  to  school  between  8  and  14,  unless  they 
have  already  been  taught  adequately  and  poverty 
compels  them  to  work.  No  Sunday  labour.  No 
woman  under  18  shall  labour  more  then  ten  hours 
per  day. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status  :  Women  have  school 
suffrage  and  are  eligible  to  all  school  offices.  They 
may  be  notaries  public.  15  women  in  ministry, 
5  dentists,  2  journalists,  6  lawyers,  15  doctors, 
I  professor,  i  commercial  traveller,  4  carpenters, 
etc. 

Ohio 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:  Male  2,102,655 ;  female  2,054,890. 


2i8       History  of  Women's  Rights 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Husband  controls  wife's 
earnings,  but  wife  controls  separate  property. 
Either  husband  or  wife  on  the  death  of  the  other 
is  entitled  to  one  third  of  the  real  estate  for  life. 
Husband  is  legal  guardian  of  children,  and  must 
provide;  but  if  he  is  unable,  wife  must  assist. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  bigamy,  desertion  for 
three  years,  adultery,  impotence,  extreme  cruelty, 
fraudulent  contract,  any  gross  neglect  of  duty, 
habitual  drunkenness  for  three  years,  imprison- 
ment in  penitentiary,  procurement  of  divorce  in 
another  State.  No  limited  divorce;  but  wife  has 
an  action  for  alimony  without  divorce  for  adul- 
tery, any  gross  neglect  of  duty,  desertion,  separa- 
tion on  account  of  ill  treatment  by  husband, 
habitual  drunkenness,  sentence  and  imprisonment 
in  penitentiary. 

Labour  Laws:  No  child  under  14  may  work  in 
a  mine.  Children  must  go  to  school  between  8 
and  14.  Seats  and  suitable  toilet  rooms  must  be 
provided  for  female  employees.  No  child  under 
14  may  be  employed  in  any  establishment  or 
take  part  in  any  acrobatic,  mendicant,  dangerous, 
or  immoral  vocation.  Hours  for  girls  under  18 
confined  between  6  a.m.  and  7  p.m.,  nor  may  they 
work  more  than  ten  hours  per  day.  No  Sunday 
labour.  No  labour  agency  shall  send  any  female  to 
an  immoral  resort. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  Women  may  vote 
for  members  of  boards  of  education,  but  not  for 


In  the  United  States  219 

State  commissioner  nor  on  bonds  and  appropria- 
tions. They  cannot  be  notaries.  206  women  in 
ministry,  40  dentists,  151  journalists,  66  lawyers, 
451  doctors,  26  professors,  337  saloon  keepers, 
15  bankers,  62  commercial  travellers,  31  car- 
penters, etc. 

Oklahoma 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:    Male  214,359;  female  182,972. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  separate  property  absolutely.  If  hus- 
band or  wife  dies  intestate,  leaving  one  child  or 
lawful  issue  of  child,  survivor  receives  one  third  of 
the  estate;  otherwise  one  half.  If  there  are  no 
kin,  survivor  takes  all.  Husband  is  guardian  of 
children,  and  is  expected  to  provide;  but  law  as- 
signs no  penalty  if  he  does  not. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  bigamy,  desertion  for 
one  year,  impotence,  pregnancy  of  wife  at  time 
of  marriage  by  other  than  husband,  extreme 
cruelty,  fraudulent  contract,  habitual  drunken- 
ness, gross  neglect  of  duty,  conviction  and  im- 
prisonment for  felony  after  marriage. 

Wife  may  have  an  action  for  separate  main- 
tenance for  any  of  these  causes  without  applying 
for  divorce. 

Labour  Laws:  No  children  under  15  may  be 
employed  in  any  occupation  injurious  to  body  or 
morals.  No  Sunday  labour.  Ten  hours  per  day 
legal  labour  for  children  under  14. 


220       History  of  Women's  Rights 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status  :  Women  may  vote 
for  school  trustees.  They  may  be  notaries 
public.  29  women  in  ministry,  i  dentist,  5 
journalists,  5  lawyers,  26  doctors,  i  professor,  4 
commercial  travellers,  3  carpenters,  etc. 

Oregon 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:    Male  232,985;  female  183,972. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. By  registering  as  a  sole  trader,  she  can 
carry  on  business  in  her  own  name.  Civil  disabil- 
ities are  same  for  husband  and  wife  except  as  to 
voting  and  holding  office.  If  husband  or  wife 
dies  intestate,  and  there  are  no  descendants  living, 
survivor  takes  whole  estate.  If  there  is  issue 
living,  the  widow  receives  one  half  of  husband's 
real  estate  and  one  half  of  his  personal  property. 
The  widower  takes  a  life  interest  in  all  the  wife's 
real  estate,  whether  there  are  children  or  not, 
and  all  her  personal  property  absolutely  if  there 
are  no  descendants  living;  otherwise  one  half. 
Husband  and  wife  are  equal  guardians  of  child- 
ren.    Husband  must  provide. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  impotency,  adultery, 
conviction  for  felony,  habitual  drunkenness  for 
one  year,  wilful  desertion  for  one  year,  cruel  treat- 
ment or  indignities  making  life  burdensome. 

No  limited  divorce.  Annulment  if  either  party 
is  one  fourth  negro  or  Mongolian  blood. 


In  the  United  States  221 

Labour  Laws:  No  Sunday  labour.  No  child 
under  14  shall  work  in  factory,  mill,  mine,  tele- 
graph, telephone,  or  public  messenger  service; 
and  no  child  under  14  shall  be  employed  at  all 
during  school  session.  Attendance  at  school  com- 
pulsory between  8  and  14.  Hours  of  work  for 
children  under  16  to  be  confined  between  7  a.m. 
and  6  p.m.  Seats  must  be  provided  for  female 
employees.  Ten  hours  a  day  the  legal  limit  for 
female  labour. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
and  Professional  Status:  Women  having 
property  in  school  districts  have  school  suffrage 
and  may  be  elected  school  trustees.  They  may 
be  notaries.  40  women  in  ministry,  15  dentists, 
17  journalists,  8  lawyers,  82  doctors,  7  professors, 
5  saloon  keepers,  10  bankers,  18  commercial  travel- 
lers, 7  carpenters,  etc. 

Pennsylvania 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population  :    Male  3,204,541 ;  female  3,097,574. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. Dower  and  curtesy  prevail.  Wife  cannot 
mortgage  separate  estate  without  husband's  con- 
sent; cannot  sue  or  be  sued  or  contract  without 
his  consent;  and  in  order  to  carry  on  business  in 
her  own  name  must  secure  special  permission 
from  the  court.  Husband  is  legal  guardian  of 
children,  and  must  provide. 

Divorce:    Absolute   for   impotence,    bigamy, 


222       History  of  Women^s  Rights 

adultery,  desertion  for  two  years,  cruelty  or  intoler- 
able indignities,  marriage  within  prohibited  degrees 
of  consanguinity  or  affinity,  fraud,  conviction  for 
felony  for  more  than  two  years,  limacy  for  ten 
years. 

Limited  divorce  for  desertion,  turning  wife 
out  of  doors,  cruelty,  adultery. 

Labour  Laws:  Seats  must  be  provided  for 
female  employees.  Employment  of  females  in 
mines  forbidden.  Children  under  i8  may  not 
engage  in  any  mendicant  occupations;  those 
under  15  may  not  exhibit  in  any  place  where 
liquor  is  sold  nor  take  part  in  any  acrobatic  or  im- 
moral vocation.  Sunday  labour  forbidden.  No 
female  may  work  in  bakery  or  macaroni  or  other 
establishment  more  than  twelve  hours  per  day. 
Children  must  go  to  school  between  8  and  16. 
No  child  under  16  may  work  in  any  anthracite 
coal  mine.  No  child  under  14  shall  be  employed 
in  any  establishment.  One  hour  must  be  allowed 
for  lunch.  No  employment  bureau  shall  send 
any  female  to  an  immoral  resort. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  290 
women  in  ministry,  73  dentists,  125  journalists, 
73  lawyers,  601  doctors,  38  professors,  183  saloon 
keepers,  17  bankers,  44  commercial  travellers,  40 
carpenters,  etc. 

Rhode  Island 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:    Male  210,516;  female  218,040. 


In  the  United  States  223 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  separate  estate,  subject  to  husband's 
right  to  curtesy.  Curtesy  and  dower  both  pre- 
vail. Husband  is  legal  guardian  of  children  and 
must  provide. 

Divorce:  Absolute  or  limited  for  marriages 
originally  void  by  law,  conviction  for  crime  in- 
volving loss  of  civil  status,  when  either  party 
may  be  presumed  to  be  naturally  dead  from  ab- 
sence, etc.,  impotence,  adultery,  desertion  for  any 
time  at  discretion  of  court,  continued  drunkenness, 
neglect  to  provide,  any  gross  misbehaviour. 

Labour  Laws:  No  child  under  13  may  be  em- 
ployed except  during  vacation.  No  child  under 
15  may  be  employed  unless  he  or  she  has  school 
certificate.  No  child  under  14  to  work  in  factory. 
Hours  of  labour  for  children  under  16  confined  be- 
tween 6  A.M.  and  8  p.m.  Seats  must  be  provided 
for  all  female  employees.  No  child  under  16  shall 
be  employed  in  any  acrobatic,  mendicant,  dan- 
gerous, or  immoral  occupation.  Hours  for  female 
labotir  confined  to  ten.    Sunday  labour  forbidden. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  24 
women  in  ministry,  5  dentists,  7  journalists,  3 
lawyers,  56  doctors,  2  saloon  keepers,  5  commercial 
travellers,  6  carpenters,  etc. 

South  Carolina 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  14. 

Population:    Male   664,895;  female   675,421. 


224       History  of  Women's  Rights 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  separate  estate  absolutely.  Dower  pre- 
vails, but  not  curtesy.  Husband  is  legal  guardian 
of  children,  and  is  required  to  provide,  but  law  as 
it  stands  offers  many  loopholes. 

Divorce:  There  are  no  divorce  laws  in  South 
Carolina. 

Labour  Laws:  Seats  must  be  provided  for 
female  employees.  Sunday  labour  forbidden.  No 
child  under  12  to  work  in  factory,  mill,  or  textile 
establishment,  except  in  cases  of  extreme  poverty 
duly  attested ;  all  such  labour  to  be  confined  be- 
tween 6  A.M.  and  8  p.m. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  Wo- 
men cannot  be  notaries.  17  women  in  ministry, 
I  dentist,  6  journalists,  3  lawyers,  17  doctors,  13 
professors,  3  saloon  keepers,  2  commercial  trav- 
ellers, 13  carpenters,  etc. 

South  Dakota 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:    Male  216,164;  female  185,406. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  controls  separate  estate.  Joint  real 
estate  can  be  conveyed  only  by  signature  of  both 
husband  and  wife,  but  husband  can  dispose  of 
joint  personal  property  without  wife's  consent. 
In  order  to  control  her  separate  property,  wife 
must  keep  it  recorded  in  the  office  of  the  county 


In  the  United  States  225 

register.  No  dower  and  no  curtesy.  Survivor 
gets  one  half  of  estate,  if  there  is  one  child  or 
issue  of  child;  otherwise  one  third;  unless  there 
are  neither  children  nor  kin,  when  survivor  takes 
all.  On  the  death  of  an  unmarried  child,  father 
inherits  all  its  property.  If  he  is  dead  and  there 
are  no  other  children,  mother  succeeds;  but  if 
there  are  brothers  and  sisters,  she  inherits  a  child's 
share.  Husband  is  guardian  and  must  support; 
but  if  he  is  infirm,  wife  must  do  so. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  extreme 
cruelty,  wilful  desertion  or  neglect  or  habit- 
ual intemperance  for  one  year,  conviction  of 
felony. 

No  limited  divorce. 

Party  guilty  of  adultery  cannot  marry  an}" 
other,  except  the  innocent  party,  until  death  of 
latter. 

Labour  Laws:  Sunday  labour  forbidden.  No 
woman  under  18  may  labour  more  than  ten  hours 
a  day.  No  child  under  15  may  work  in  mine, 
hotel,  laundry,  factory,  elevator,  bowliag  alley, 
or  any  place  where  liquor  is  sold.  No  child 
under  15  shall  be  employed  at  all  while  schools  are 
in  session. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  Women  can  vote 
for  school  trustees.  They  may  be  notaries.  29 
women  in  ministry,  3  dentists,  4  journalists,  12 
lawyers,  24  doctors,  7  professors,  3  saloon  keepers, 
3  commercial  travellers,  etc. 
15 


226      History  of  Women's  Rights 
Tennessee 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  i8. 

Population:    Male  1,021,224;  female  999,392. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Husband  controls  wife's 
earnings,  and  wife  can  do  nothing  with  her  separate 
estate  without  his  consent.  Dower  and  curtesy 
prevail.  Husband  has  right  to  all  rents  and  pro- 
fits of  wife's  estate.  No  law  requires  husband  to 
provide.     Husband  is  guardian  of  children. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  impotence,  bigamy, 
adultery,  desertion  for  two  years,  conviction  for 
felony,  attempted  murder,  pregnancy  of  woman 
at  time  of  marriage  without  knowledge  of  hus- 
band, habitual  drunkenness. 

Limited  for  wife  only  for  cruel  treatment  by 
husband  or  intolerable  indignities,  and  desertion 
or  refusal  to  provide. 

Party  guilty  of  adultery  cannot  marry  person 
with  whom  adultery  has  been  committed  during 
life  of  former  partner. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  Simday  labour.  No  child 
under  14  may  be  employed  in  factory,  workshop, 
or  mine.  Seats  must  be  provided  for  female 
employees.  Hours  for  labour  of  women  confined 
to  60  per  week. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
and  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  30 
women  in  ministry,  i  dentist,  19  journalists,  14 
lawyers,  48  doctors,  9  professors,  6  saloon  keepers,  4 
bankers,  16  commercial  travellers,  6  carpenters,  etc. 


In  the  United  States  227 

Texas 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  15. 

Population :    Male  i  ,578,900 ;  female  i  ,469,810. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Husband  controls  wife's 
earnings  and  wife  can  do  nothing  with  her  separate 
property  without  his  consent.  No  dower  or  curtesy. 
Husband  and  wife  succeed  equally  to  each  other's 
estate.  Husband  is  guardian  of  children  and  may 
be  required  to  provide  out  of  his  wife's  estate. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  excesses  or  outrages; 
in  favour  of  husband  when  wife  is  taken  in  adultery 
or  has  deserted  him  for  three  years ;  in  favour  of 
wife,  if  husband  has  deserted  her  for  three  years 
or  has  abandoned  her  and  lives  in  adultery  with 
another  woman.  In  favour  of  either  husband  or 
wife  on  conviction  for  felony. 

No  limited  divorce. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  Sunday  laboiir.  No  child 
under  12  may  be  employed  in  any  establishment 
using  machinery.  No  females  shall  be  employed 
in  any  place  where  liquor  is  sold  except  immediate 
members  of  owner's  family. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  Wo- 
men can  be  notaries.  50  women  in  ministry, 
12  dentists,  51  journalists,  17  lawyers,  100  doctors, 
3  professors,  26  saloon  keepers,  18  bankers,  29 
commercial  travellers,  12  carpenters,  etc. 

Utah 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  18. 


228      History  of  Women's  Rights 

Population:    Male  141,687;  female  135,062. 

Husband  and  Wife:  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. No  dower  or  curtesy.  Husband  and  wife 
succeed  equally  to  each  other's  estate  at  death. 
Woman  controls  separate  estate  absolutely. 
Husband  is  legal  guardian  of  children.  There  is 
no  penalty  for  non-support. 

Divorce  :  Absolute  for  impotence,  adultery,  de- 
sertion for  one  year,  neglect  to  provide,  habitual 
drunkenness,  conviction  of  felony,  cruel  treatment 
causing  bodily  injury  or  mental  distress,  perma- 
nent insanity. 

No  limited  divorce;  but  wife  has  an  action  for 
separate  maintenance  in  case  of  desertion  or 
neglect  to  provide  on  part  of  husband. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  females  may  work  in  mines. 
No  Sunday  labour. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status  :  Full  suffrage ;  there- 
fore all  offices  are  open  to  women.  20  women 
in  ministry,  5  dentists,  7  journalists,  i  lawyer, 
34  doctors,  2  saloon  keepers,  i  banker,  3  com- 
mercial travellers,  i  carpenter,  etc. 

Vermont 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  16. 

Population:    Males  175,138;  females  168,503. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  controls  separate  property.  No  dower 
or  ciurtesy.     Husband  and  wife  have  same  powers 


In  the  United  States  229 

of  mutual  inheritance,  except  that  widower  does 
not  take  his  wife's  personal  property.  Husband 
is  guardian  of  children  and  must  support. 

Divorce:  Absolute  or  limited  for  adultery, 
sentence  to  hard  labour,  intolerable  severity,  de- 
sertion for  three  years,  neglect  to  provide,  absence 
for  seven  years  without  being  heard  from. 

Labour  Laws:  No  child  under  16  to  be  em- 
ployed after  8  p.m.  No  child  tmder  12  may 
work  in  mill,  factory,  railroad,  quarry,  or  mes- 
senger service.  No  female  shall  be  employed  in 
barrooms.     No  Simday  labour. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status  :  Women  have  school 
suffrage.  They  may  be  notaries.  17  women  in 
ministry,  3  dentists,  15  journalists,  21  doctors, 
I  professor,  2  saloon  keepers,  11  commercial 
travellers,  3  carpenters,  etc. 

Virginia 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  14. 

Population:    Male  925,897;  female  928,287. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  separate  property  absolutely.  Dower 
and  curtesy  prevail.  Husband  is  guardian  of 
children  and  must  support. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  impotence, 
sentence  to  penitentiary,  conviction  of  an  in- 
famous offence  prior  to  marriage  without  know- 
ledge of  other  party,  desertion  for  three  years, 


230      History  of  Women's  Rights 

pregnancy  of  wife  at  time  of  marriage  or  previous 
prostitution  without  knowledge  of  husband. 

Limited  for  cruelty,  reasonable  apprehension  of 
bodily  hurt,  desertion. 

Labour  Laws:  Seats  must  be  provided  for 
female  employees.  Hours  of  female  labour  con- 
fined to  ten.  No  child  under  12  may  work  in 
factory  or  mine;  no  child  imder  14  shall  work  be- 
tween 6  P.M.  and  7  A.M.  No  child  under  14  shall 
be  hired  for  any  mendicant,  acrobatic,  dangerous, 
or  immoral  occupation.     No  Simday  labour.        ! 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  37 
women  in  ministry,  i  dentist,  12  journalists,  7 
lawyers,  32  doctors,  20  professors,  19  saloon 
keepers,  13  commercial  travellers,  9  carpenters,  etc. 

Washington 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  18. 

Population  :    Male  304, 1 78 ;  female  2 13,925. 

Husband  AND  Wife:  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  controls  separate  estate;  but  control  of 
community  property  is  vested  absolutely  in  the 
husband;  this  includes  everything  acquired  after 
marriage  by  the  joint  or  separate  efforts  of  either. 
Husband  and  wife  have  equal  rights  of  inherit- 
ance to  one  another's  estate;  but  are  not  equal 
guardians  of  the  children,  as  husband  can  ex- 
clude wife  by  will.  Support  of  the  family  is 
chargeable  upon  the  property  of  both  husband  or 
wife,  or  either  of  them.     No  dower  or  curtesy. 


In  the  United  States  231 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  any  cause  deemed  by 
court  sufficient,  when  court  is  satisfied  that  parties 
can  no  longer  live  together,  fraudulent  contract, 
adultery,  impotence,  desertion  for  one  year, 
cruel  treatment,  habitual  drunkenness,  neglect 
to  provide,  imprisonment. 

No  limited  divorce. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  female  may  be  employed  in 
a  mine.  Every  profession  and  occupation  open 
to  women,  but  they  may  not  hold  public  office. 
No  Sunday  labour.  Females  shall  not  be  employed 
in  any  place  where  liquor  is  sold.  Seats  must  be 
provided  for  female  employees.  Hours  limited  to 
ten.  No  child  under  14  shall  labour  in  factory, 
mill,  or  workshop  except  at  discretion  of  juvenile 
judge.  Children  must  go  to  school  between  8 
and  15. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status  :  Women  have  school 
and  bond  suffrage,  but  cannot  vote  for  State 
or  coimty  superintendents.  38  women  in  minis- 
try, 7  dentists,  13  journalists,  13  lawyers,  62 
doctors,  3  professors,  8  saloon  keepers,  i  banker, 
8  commercial  travellers,  etc. 

West  Virginia 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  14. 
Population  :    Male  499,242 ;  female  459,558. 
Husband  and  Wife:    Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings, but  cannot  sell  or  encumber  her  separate 


232      History  of  Women's  Rights 

property  without  husband's  consent.  Husband  is 
legal  guardian  and  must  provide.  Dower  and 
curtesy  prevail. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  impotence, 
imprisonment  in  penitentiary,  conviction  of  an 
infamous  offence  before  marriage,  desertion  for 
three  years,  pregnancy  of  wife  at  time  of  marriage 
or  prostitution  before  without  knowledge  of  hus- 
band, in  favour  of  wife  when  husband  was  notori- 
ously a  licentious  person  before  marriage  without 
her  knowledge. 

Limited  for  cruelty,  reasonable  apprehension  of 
bodily  hurt,  desertion,  habitual  drunkenness. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  Simday  labour.  No  child 
tmder  12  may  work  in  factory  or  mill  and  no  child 
under  14  shall  be  employed  during  school  session. 
No  child  under  15  may  be  employed  in  any 
mendicant,  acrobatic,  immoral,  or  dangerous  oc- 
cupation, nor  in  any  place  where  liquor  is  sold. 
Seats  must  be  provided  for  female  employees. 
No  female  may  work  in  mine. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status:  No  suffrage.  Wo- 
men cannot  be  notaries.  26  women  in  ministry, 
4  dentists,  4  journalists,  4  lawyers,  18  doctors,  4 
professors,  9  saloon  keepers,  2  bankers,  3  com- 
mercial travellers,  2  carpenters,  etc. 

Wisconsin 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  18. 

Population  :   Male  i  ,067,562 ;  female  i  ,001 ,480. 


In  the  United  States  233 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings. Assignment  of  wages  of  husband  must 
have  wife's  written  consent.  Wife  controls  sep- 
arate property  absolutely.  Dower  and  curtesy 
prevail.  Husband  is  guardian  of  children  and 
must  provide. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  impotence,  adultery, 
sentence  to  imprisonment  for  three  years  prior  to 
marriage.  Limited  or  absolute  for  desertion  for 
one  year,  cruelty,  habitual  drunkenness,  neglect 
to  provide,  conduct  of  husband  rendering  it  im- 
proper or  unsafe  for  wife  to  live  with  him. 

Labour  Laws  :  Female  labour  confined  to  eight 
hours  per  day.  No  child  imder  14  may  work  in 
factory,  workshop,  bowling  alley,  or  mine.  Child- 
ren between  14  and  16  must  get  permission  from 
juvenile  judge.  No  child  under  16  shall  be  em- 
ployed on  dangerous  machinery.  None  under 
14  shall  take  part  in  theatrical  or  circus  exhibi- 
tion as  musician  unless  accompanied  on  tours 
by  parent  or  guardian.  Authorities  shall  in  all 
cases  determine  whether  occupation  is  dangerous 
or  immoral  for  children  xmder  14.  No  Simday 
labour. 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
AND  Professional  Status  :  Women  have  school 
suffrage.  They  may  be  notaries.  65  women  in 
ministry,  24  dentists,  32  jotimalists,  23  law- 
yers, 154  doctors,  12  professors,  143  saloon 
keepers,  2  bankers,  2^]  commercial  travellers,  9 
carpenters,  etc. 


234      History  of  Women's  Rights 

Wyoming 

Age  of  Legal  Consent:  21. 

Population  :    Male  58 , 1 84 ;  female  34 ,347. 

Husband  and  Wife  :  Wife  controls  own  earn- 
ings and  separate  property  absolutely.  Neither 
dower  nor  curtesy  prevail.  Husband  and  wife 
have  same  rights  of  mutual  inheritance.  Hus- 
band is  legal  guardian  of  children,  but  there  is  no 
penalty  if  he  does  not  provide. 

Divorce:  Absolute  for  adultery,  impotence, 
conviction  for  felony,  desertion  for  one  year, 
habitual  dnmkenness,  extreme  cruelty,  neglect 
to  provide  for  one  year,  intolerable  indignities, 
vagrancy  of  husband,  conviction  of  felony  prior 
to  marriage  tmknown  to  other  party,  pregnancy 
of  wife  at  time  of  marriage  unknown  to  husband. 

No  limited  divorce. 

Labour  Laws  :  No  female  shall  work  in  mine. 
Acrobatic,  mendicant,  dangerous,  or  immoral 
occupations  forbidden  to  children  under  14.  No 
Sunday  labour.  Seats  must  be  provided  for  female 
employees.  ■ 

Suffrage,  Political  Condition,  Industrial 
and  Professional  Status:  Full  suffrage.  Wo- 
men are  eligible  for  all  offices.  2  women  in 
ministry,  2  journalists,  12  doctors,  i  professor, 
no  saloon  keepers,  lawyers,  or  dentists,  2  car- 
penters, etc. 

In  studying  these  tables,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  new  laws  are  being  made  constantly; 


In  the  United  States  235 

and  that  the  census  of  1910  will  give  figures  which 
as  soon  as  they  appear  must  supersede  those  of 
1900. 

SOURCES 

I.  The  Statutes  of  the  Several  States,  from  earliest  times  to 
the  present  day.     Published  by  Authority. 

II.  All  newspapers  and  periodicals. 

III.  The  Census  Reports,  especially  the  various  separate  re- 
ports such  as  that  on  "Marriage  and  Divorce";  and  the  Re- 
ports of  the  Commissioner  of  Labour. 

IV.  The  History  of  Woman  Suffrage:  edited  by  Elizabeth 
Cady  Stanton,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage,  and 
Ida  Husted  Harper,  4  vols.  [First  two  published  by  Fowler  and 
Wells,  New  York,  1881  and  1882;  last  two  by  Susan  B.  Anthony, 
Rochester,  1887  and  1902.] 

V.  The  Encyclopedia  of  Social  Reforms:  edited  by  William 
D.  P.  Bliss,  with  the  Co-operation  of  many  Specialists.  Funk 
and  Wagnalls,  New  York  and  London,  1898. 


CHAPTER  IX 

GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

IT  is  twenty-three  centuries  since  Plato  gave  to 
the  world  his  magnificent  treatise  on  the 
State.  The  dream  of  the  Greek  philosopher  of 
equal  rights  for  all  intelligent  citizens,  among 
whom  he  includes  women,  has  in  large  part  been 
realised ;  but  much  is  yet  wanting  to  bring  society 
to  the  standard  of  the  Ideal  Republic.  In  not  a 
few  States  of  the  world  the  conditions  affecting 
property  rights  are  inequitable;  in  all  but  very 
few  States  woman  is  still  barred  from  the  field  of 
politics  and  from  the  legitimate  rights  of  citizen- 
ship; and  the  day  seems  far  distant  when  the 
States  possessing  a  representative  government  will 
be  prepared  to  accept  the  woman  citizen  as  eligible 
for  administrative  positions. 

It  will,  therefore,  be  my  purpose  in  this  chapter 
first  to  consider  five  of  the  most  serious  objec- 
tions to  the  granting  of  equal  suffrage,  that  is  to 
say,  to  the  concession  to  women  of  full  citizens' 
rights  under  the  law.  It  will  be  found  that  these 
objections  are  based  on  a  presumed  inferiority  of 
women  to  men  in  various  respects.  I  shall  give 
consideration  next  in  order  to  the  question  of  the 

236 


General  Considerations  237 

inferiority  or  superiority  of  one  sex  over  the  other. 
In  view,  furthermore,  of  the  new  ferment  in 
thought  in  modern  society,  it  will  be  useful  to 
analyse  certain  habits  of  mind  and  to  indicate  the 
necessity  for  a  readjustment  of  old  beliefs  in 
the  light  of  recent  evolution.  I  shall  conclude 
my  history  with  a  suggestion  for  definite  reforms 
which,  I  believe,  must  be  brought  about,  whether 
equal  suffrage  is  granted  or  not,  before  women  can 
attain  their  maximum  of  efficiency. 

The  opposition  to  the  granting  of  equal  suf- 
frage is,  as  I  have  said,  based  mainly  upon  five 
classes  of  contentions : 
I.     The  theological. 
II.     The  physiological. 

III.  The  social  or  political. 

IV.  The  intellectual. 
V.     The  moral. 

A  consideration  and  an  analysis  of  these  five 
classes  of  objections  will  constitute  a  summary  of 
the  relations  of  woman  to  the  community,  and 
may  also  serve  as  a  guide  or  suggestion  to  the 
possibility  of  a  legitimate  development,  in  the 
near  future,  of  her  rights  as  a  citizen. 
1—  I.  The  theological  argument  is  based  upon 
the  distinctly  evil  conception  of  woman,  presented 
in  Genesis,  as  the  cause  of  misery  in  this  world 
and  upon  the  subordinate  position  assigned  to  her 
by  Paul  and  Peter,  j  Christ  himself  has  left  us 
no  teachings  on  the''  subject.  The  Hebrew  and 
Oriental  creed  of  woman's  sphere  permeated  the 


238      History  of  Women's  Rights 

West  as  Christianity  expanded  and  forced  to 
extinction  the  Roman  principle  of  equaHty.  Only 
within  fifty  years,  has  the  female  sex  regained  the 
rights  enjoyed  by  women  under  the  law  of  the 
Empire  seventeen  centuries  ago.  The  Apostolic 
theory  of  complete  subordination  gained  strength 
with  each  succeeding  age.  I  have  already  cited 
instances  of  ecclesiastical  vehemence.  As  a  final 
example  I  may  recall  that  when,  early  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  chloroform  was  first  used 
to  help  women  in  childbirth,  a  number  of  Pro- 
testant divines  denounced  the  practice  as  a  sin 
against  the  Creator,  who  had  expressly  com- 
manded that  woman  should  bring  forth  in  sorrow 
and  tribulation.  Yet  times  have  so  far  changed 
within  two  decades  that  the  theological  argument 
is  practically  obsolete  among  Protestants,  al- 
though it  is  still  influential  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  which  holds  fast  to  the  doctrine  laid 
down  by  the  Apostles.  We  may  say,  however, 
that  of  all  the  objections,  the  theological  has,  in 
practice,  the  least  weight  among  the  bulk  of  the 
population.  The  word  obey  in  the  clerical  formula 
lovCj  honour,  and  obey  provokes  a  smile. 

II.  The  physiological  argument  is  more  power- 
ful. Its  supporters  assert  that  the  constitution 
of  woman  is  too  delicate,  too  finely  wrought  to 
compete  with  man  in  his  chosen  fields.  The 
physiological  argument  makes  its  appearance  most 
persistently  in  the  statement  that  woman  should 
have  no  vote  because  she  could  not  defend  her 


General  Considerations  239 

property  or  her  country  in  time  of  war.  In  reply 
to  this  some  partisans  of  equal  suffrage  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  prove  that  women  are 
physically  equal  in  all  respects  to  men.  But  the 
issues  between  nations  which  in  the  centuries 
past  it  had  been  believed  could  be  adjusted  only 
by  war,  by  being  fought  out  (not,  of  course, 
to  any  logical  conclusion,  but  to  a  result  which 
showed  simply  that  one  party  was  stronger  than 
the  other),  are  now,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases, 
determined  by  the  more  reasonable,  the  more 
civilised,  method  of  arbitration. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  cause  of  woman*s  rights 
will  suffer  no  harm  by  a  frank  admission  that 
women  are  not,  in  general,  the  peers  of  men  in 
brute  force.  The  very  nature  of  the  female  sex, 
subjected,  as  it  is,  to  functional  strains  from  which 
the  male  is  free,  is  sufficient  to  invalidate  such  a 
claim.  A  refutation  of  the  physiological  objec- 
tion to  equal  suffrage  is,  however,  not  hard  to 
find.  Even  in  war,  as  it  is  practised  to-day, 
physical  force  is  of  little  significance  compared 
with  strategy  which  is  a  product  of  the  intellect. 
In  a  naval  battle  for  instance,  ships  no  longer  en- 
gage at  close  range,  where  it  is  possible  for  the  crew 
of  one  to  board  the  opposing  ship  and  engage  in 
hand  to  hand  conflict  with  the  enemy;  machinery 
turns  the  guns  and  even  loads  them;  the  whole 
fight  is  simply  a  contest  between  trained  gunners, 
who  must  depend  for  success  on  cool  mathematical 
computation. 


240       History  of  Women's  Rights 

Nevertheless,  it  is  true  that  under  stress  or  the 
need  of  making  a  liveUhood  women  in  many  in- 
stances do  show  physical  endurance  equal  to  that 
of  men.  Women  who  are  expert  ballet  dancers 
and  those  who  are  skilled  acrobats  can  hardly 
be  termed  physiological  weaklings.  In  Berlin, 
you  may  see  women  staggering  along  with  huge 
loads  on  their  backs ;  in  Munich,  women  are  street- 
cleaners  and  hod-carriers;  on  the  island  of  Capri, 
the  trunk  of  the  tourist  is  lifted  by  two  men  onto 
the  shoulder  of  a  woman^  who  carries  it  up  the 
steep  road  to  the  village.  In  this  country  many 
women  are  forced  to  do  hard  bodily  labour  ten 
hours  a  day  in  sweat-shops.  In  all  countries 
and  in  all  ages  there  have  been  examples  of  wo- 
men who,  disguised  as  men,  have  fought  side  by 
side  with  the  male  and  with  equal  efficiency.  The 
case  of  Joan  of  Arc  will  at  once  occur  to  the 
reader;  and  those  who  are  curious  about  this 
subject  may,  by  consulting  the  records  of  our 
Civil  War,  find  exciting  material  in  the  story  of 
"Belle  Boyd,"  "Frank  Miller,"  and  "Major 
Cushman."  ' 

Doubtless  women  are  stronger  physically  than 
they  were  a  half-century  ago,  when  it  was  con- 
sidered unladylike  to  exercise.  If  you  will  read 
the  novels  of  that  time,  you  will  find  that  the 
heroine  faints  on  the  slightest  provocation  or 
weeps    copiously,    like   Amelia   in    Vanity    Fair, 

»See  an  excellent  article  on  "The  American  Woman"  by 
Miss  Ida  M.  Tarbell,  in  the  American  Magazine  for  April,  191c. 


General  Considerations  241 

whenever  the  situation  demands  a  grain  of  will- 
power or  of  common-sense.  But  to-day  women 
seldom  faint  or  weep  in  literature ;  they  play  tennis 
or  row.  When,  in  1844,  Pauline  Wright  Davis 
lectured  on  physiology  before  women  in  America 
and  displayed  the  manikin,  some  of  her  auditors 
dropped  their  veils,  some  ran  from  the  room,  and 
some  actually  became  unconscious,  because  their 
sense  of  delicacy  was  put  to  so  sharp  a  test. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  in  connection  with 
the  contention  that  the  privileges  of  a  citizen 
ought  to  be  accorded  only  to  those  persons  who 
are  physically  capable  of  helping  to  defend  the 
community  by  force,  that  no  such  principle  is  ap- 
plied in  fixing  the  existing  qualifications  for  male 
citizenship.  A  large  number  of  the  voters  of 
every  community  are,  on  the  ground  either  of 
advanced  years  or  of  invalidism,  physically  dis- 
qualified for  service  as  soldiers,  sailors,  or  police- 
men. This  group  of  citizens  includes  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  thinking  power  of  the  com- 
munity. No  intelligently  directed  state  would, 
however,  be  prepared  to  deprive  itself  of  the  coun- 
sels, of  the  active  political  co-operation,  and  of  the 
service  from  time  to  time  in  the  responsibility  of 
office,  of  men  of  the  type  of  Gladstone  (at  the  age 
of  seventy-five),  of  John  Stuart  Mill  (always  a 
physical  weakling),  of  Washington  (serving  as 
President  after  he  was  sixty) ,  on  the  ground  that 
these  citizens  were  no  longer  capable  of  carrying 
muskets  in  the  ranks. 

x6 


242       History  of  Women's  Rights 

Any  classification  of  citizens,  any  privileges 
extended  to  voters,  ought,  of  course,  to  be  arrived 
at  on  a  consistent  and  impartial  principle. 

Further,  under  the  conditions  obtaining  in 
this  twentieth  century,  governments,  whether  of 
nations,  of  states,  or  of  cities,  are  carried  on  not 
by  force  but  by  opinion.  In  the  earlier  history 
of  mankind,  each  family  was  called  upon  to  main- 
tain its  existence  by  physical  force.  The  families 
the  members  of  which  (female  as  well  as  male) 
were  not  strong  enough  to  fight  for  their  existence 
were  crushed  out.  Far  into  the  later  centuries, 
issues  between  individuals  were  adjusted  by  the 
decision  of  arms.  Up  to  within  a  very  recent 
date,  it  may  be  admitted  that  issues  between 
nations  could  be  settled  only  by  war.  It  is,  how- 
ever, at  this  time  the  accepted  principle  of  re- 
presentative government  in  all  communities  that 
matters  of  policy  are  determined  by  the  expression 
of  opinion,  that  is  by  means  of  the  votes  given  by 
the  majority  of  its  citizens.  It  is  by  intelligence 
and  not  by  brute  force  that  the  world  is  now  being 
ruled,  and  with  the  growth  of  intelligence  and  a 
better  understanding  of  the  principles  of  govern- 
ment, it  is  in  order  not  only  on  the  groimds  of 
justice  but  for  the  best  interests  of  the  state  to 
widen  the  foundations  of  representative  govern- 
ment, so  as  to  make  available  for  voting  and  for 
official  responsibilities  all  the  intelligence  that  is 
comprised  within  the  community.  This  is  in  my 
judgment  the  most  conclusive  reply  to  the  objec- 


General  Considerations  243 

tion  that  the  physical  weakness  of  woman  unfits 
h^i^or  citizenship. 

III.  According  to  the  social  or  political  argu- 
ment, if  woman  is  given  equal  rights  with  man, 
the  basis  of  family  life,  and  hence  the  foundation 
of  the  state  itself,  is  undermined,  as  a  house 
divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  It  is  said 
that  (i)  there  must  be  some  one  authority  in  a 
household  and  that  this  should  be  the  man;  (2) 
woman  will  neglect  the  home  if  she  is  left  free  to 
enter  politics  or  a  profession;  (3)  politics  will 
degrade  her;  (4)  when  independent  and  self- 
asserting  she  will  lose  her  influence  over  man; 
and  (5)  most  women  do  not  want  to  vote  or  to 
enter  politics. 

It  is  astonishing  with  what  vehemence  men  will 
base  arguments  on  pure  theory  and  speculation, 
while  they  wilfully  close  their  eyes  to  any  facts 
which  may  contradict  their  assumptions.  It  is 
inconceivable  to  a  certain  type  of  mind  that  a 
husband  and  wife  can  differ  on  political  questions 
and  may  yet  maintain  an  even  harmony,  while 
their  love  abates  not  one  whit.  In  the  four  States 
where  women  vote — Wyoming,  Colorado,  Utah, 
and  Idaho — there  is  no  more  divorce  than  in 
other  States;  and  any  one  who  has  travelled  in 
these  communities  can  attest  that  no  domestic 
unhappiness  results  from  the  suffrage.  Nor  does 
it  in  New  Zealand. 

It  is  said  that  there  must  be  some  one  supreme 
authority;  but  this  depends  on  the  view  taken  of 


244      History  of  Women's  Rights 

marriage.  Under  the  old  Common  Law,  the 
personality  of  the  wife  was  merged  completely 
in  that  of  her  husband;  marriage  was  an  absolute 
despotism.  Under  the  Canon  Law,  woman  is 
man's  obedient  and  unquestioning  subject;  mar- 
riage is  a  benevolent  despotism.  To-day  people 
are  more  inclined  to  look  upon  matrimony  as  a 
partnership  of  equal  duties,  rights,  and  privileges. 
Sophocles  argued  in  one  of  his  tragedies  that 
children  belong  entirely  to  the  father,  that  the 
mother  can  assert  no  valid  claim  for  anything. 
Lawyers  have  found  this  logic  excellent;  and  the 
records  V  are  full  of  instances  of  children  being 
taken  from  a  hard-working  mother  in  order  to  be 
handed  over  to  a  drunken  father  who  wants  their 
wages  for  his  support.  It  is  no  longer  so  in  most 
states.  Civilisation  has  advanced  so  far,  that  the 
pains  of  bringing  forth  and  raising  children  are 
acknowledged  to  give  the  mother  a  right  almost 
equal  to  that  of  the  father  to  determine  all  that 
concerns  the  child.  There  is  some  reason,  there- 
fore, for  believing  that  she  should  have  a  voice 
also  in  passing  upon  laws  which  may  make  or 
undo  for  ever  the  welfare  of  the  boys  and  girls  for 
whom  she  struggles  during  the  years  that  they 
are  growing  to  manhood  and  womanhood.  Men 
are  for  the  greater  part  so  engrossed  in  business 
that  on  certain  questions  they  are  far  less  com- 
petent to  be  "authorities"  than  women.  Against 
stupid  pedagogy,  against  red-tape,  against  the 
policy  that   morality  must  never  interfere  with 


General  Considerations  245 

business  principles,  against  civic  dirtiness,  against 
brothel  and  saloon,  women  are  more  active  than 
men,  because  they  see  more  clearly  how  vitally 
the  interests  of  their  children  are  affected  by  these 
evil  conditions.  Wherever  women  vote,  these 
questions  are  to  the  fore. 

Closely  connected  with  the  "one  authority'* 
argument  is  the  old  contention,  so  often  resorted 
to  and  relied  upon,  that  women,  if  they  are  per- 
mitted to  vote,  will  neglect  the  home,  and  that, 
if  the  professions  are  opened  to  them,  they  will 
find  these  too  absorbingly  attractive.  Much 
weight  should,  however,  be  given  to  the  great 
power  of  the  domestic  instinct  implanted  in  the 
nature  of  woman.  In  the  States  where  women 
vote  and  are  eligible  for  political  offices,  there 
are  fewer  unmarried  women  in  proportion  to  the 
population  than  in  States  where  they  have  no  such 
rights.  The  great  leaders  of  the  woman  suffrage 
movement  from  Mrs.  Stanton  to  Mrs.  Snowden 
have  in  their  home  circle  led  lives  as  beautiful 
and  have  raised  families  as  large  and  as  well 
equipped  morally  and  intellectually  as  those  who 
are  content  to  sit  by  the  fire  and  spin. 

Thus  far  I  have  argued  from  the  orthodox  view, 
that  matrimony  ought  to  be  the  goal  of  every 
woman's  ambition.  But  if  a  woman  wishes  to 
remain  single  and  devote  herself  exclusively  to 
the  realisation  of  some  ideal,  it  is  hard  to  see 
why  she  should  not.  Men  who  take  this  course 
are    eulogised    for    their    noble    self-sacrifice    in 


246      History  of  Women's  Rights 

immolating  themselves  for  the  advancement  of 
the  cause  of  civilisation;  women  who  do  precisely 
the  same  thing  are  sometimes  unthinkingly  spoken 
of  in  terms  of  contempt  or  with  that  complacent 
pity  which  is  far  worse.  It  is  difficult  for  us  to 
realise  adequately  what  talented  women  like 
Rosa  Bonheur  had  to  undergo  because  of  this 
curious  attitude  of  humanity. 

"The  home  is  woman's  sphere."  This  shib- 
boleth is  the  logical  result  of  the  attitude  men- 
tioned. Doubtless,  the  home  is  woman's  sphere- 
but  the  home  includes  all  that  pertains  to  it — V 
city,  politics  and  taxes,  laws  relating  to  the  protec- 
tion of  minors,  municipal  rottenness  which  may 
corrupt  children,  schools  and  playgrounds  and 
museums  which  may  educate  them.  Few  doc- 
trines have  been  productive  of  more  pain  than  the 
*' woman's  sphere"  argument.  It  is  this  which 
has,  for  a  thousand  years,  made  the  unmarried 
woman,  the  Old  Maid,  the  butt  of  the  contemptible 
jibes  of  Christian  society,  whereof  you  will  find 
no  parallel  in  pagan  antiquity.  Dramatic  writers 
have  held  her  up  to  ridicule  on  the  stage  on  ac- 
count of  the  peculiarities  of  character  which  are 
naturally  acquired  when  a  person  is  isolated  from 
participation  in  the  activities  of  life.  It  is  the 
doctrine  which  has  made  women  glad  to  marry 
drunkards  and  rakes,  to  bring  forth  children 
tainted  with  the  sins  of  their  fathers,  and  to  suffer 
hell  on  earth  rather  than  incur  the  ridicule  of  the 
Christian  gentleman  who  may,  without  incurring 


General  Considerations  247 

the  protest  of  society,  remain  unmarried  and  sow 
an  unlimited  quantity  of  wild  oats.  It  is  this  doc- 
trine which  was  indirectly  responsible  for  the 
hanging  and  burning  of  eccentric  old  women  on 
the  charge  that  they  were  witches.  As  men  found 
a  divine  sanction  for  keeping  women  in  subjection, 
so  in  those  days  of  superstition  did  they  blaspheme 
their  Creator  by  digging  out  of  the  Old  Testament, 
as  a  justification  for  their  brutality,  the  text, 
"Thou  shalt  not  suffer  a  witch  to  live.** 

"Politics  will  degrade  women" — this  naive 
confession  that  politics  are  rotten  is  a  fairly 
strong  argument  that  some  good  influence  is 
needed  to  make  them  cleaner.  Generally  speak- 
ing, it  is  difiicult  to  imagine  how  politics  could  be 
made  any  worse.  If  a  woman  cannot  go  to  the 
polls  or  hold  office  without  being  insulted  by 
rowdies,  her  vote  will  be  potent  to  elect  officials 
who  should  be  able  to  secure  for  the  community  a 
standard  of  reasonable  civilisation.  There  is  no 
case  in  which  more  sentimentality  is  wasted. 
Lovely  woman  is  urged  not  to  allow  her  beauty, 
her  gentleness,  her  tender  submissiveness  to  be- 
come the  butt  of  the  lounger  at  the  street  comer; 
and  in  most  instances  lovely  woman,  like  the 
celebrated  Maitre  Corbeau,  is  cajoled  effectively. 
Meanwhile  the  brothel  and  the  sweat-shop  con- 
tinue on  their  prosperous  way.  By  a  curious 
inconsistency,  man  will  permit  woman  to  help 
him  out  of  a  political  dilemma  and  will  then 
suavely  remark  that  suffrage  will  degrade  her. 


248      History  of  Women's  Rights 

During  the  Civil  War,  Anna  Dickinson  by  her 
remarkable  lecture  entitled,  "The  National 
Crisis"  saved  New  Hampshire  and  Connecticut 
for  the  Republicans;  Anna  Carroll  not  only  gave 
such  a  crushing  rejoinder  to  Breckinridge's  se- 
cession speech  that  the  government  printed  and 
distributed  it,  but  she  also,  as  is  now  generally 
believed,  planned  the  campaign  which  led  to  the 
fall  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson  and  opened 
the  Mississippi  to  Vicksburg.  How  many  men 
realise  these  facts? 

The  theory  that  politics  degrade  women  will 
not  find  much  support  in  such  States  as  Colorado 
and  Wyoming.  Here,  where  equal  suffrage  ob- 
tains, women  have  been  treated  with  uniform 
courtesy  at  the  polls ;  they  have  even  been  elected 
to  legislatures  with  no  diminution  of  their  woman- 
liness ;  and  the  House  of  Wyoming  long  ago  made 
a  special  resolution  of  its  approval  of  equal  rights 
and  attested  the  beneficial  results  that  have  fol- 
lowed the  extension  of  the  suffrage  to  women.' 
Judge  Lindsey  of  Colorado  has  said  that  his 
election,  and  consequent  power  to  work  out  his 
great  reforms  in  juvenile  delinquency,  was  due  to 
the  backing  of  women  at  a  time  when  men,  for 

'  In  1893.  "Be  it  resolved  by  the  Second  Legislature  of  the 
State  of  Wyoming: 

"  That  the  possession  and  exercise  of  suffrage  by  the  women  of 
"Wyoming  for  the  past  quarter  of  a  century  has  wrought  no 
harm  and  has  done  great  good  in  many  ways ;  that  it  has  largely 
aided  in  banishing  crime,  pauperism,  and  vice  from  this  State, 
and  that  without  any  violent  and  oppressive  legislation,"  etc. 


General  Considerations  249 

** business  reasons,"  were  averse  to  extend  their 
aid.  "No  one  would  dare  to  propose  its  repeal 
[i.e.,  the  repeal  of  equal  suffrage],  and  if  left  to 
the  men  of  the  State  any  proposition  to  revoke  the 
rights  bestowed  on  women  would  be  overwhelm- 
ingly defeated."  Experience  in  Colorado  and 
elsewhere  has  shown  that  any  important  moral 
issue  will  bring  out  the  women  voters  in  great 
force;  but  after  election  they  are  content  to  re- 
sume their  domestic  duties;  and  they  have  shown 
no  great  desire  for  political  office. ' 

^  Women  in  Colorado  have  been  of  greatest  service  in  estab- 
lishing the  following  laws : 

I — Establishing  a  State  Home  for  dependent  children,  three 
of  the  five  members  of  the  board  to  be  women. 

2 — Requiring  that  at  least  three  of  the  six  members  of  the 
county  visitors  shall  be  women. 

3 — Making  mothers  joint  guardians  of  their  children  with  the 
fathers. 

4 — Raising  the  age  of  protection  for  girls  to  i8  years. 

5 — Establishing  a  State  Industrial  School  for  girls.  There  had 
long  been  one  for  boys,  but  the  women  could  not  get  one  for 
girls  until  they  had  the  vote. 

6 — Removing  the  emblems  from  the  Australian  ballots. 
This  is  a  little,  indirect  step  toward  educational  qualifications 
for  voting. 

7 — Establishing  the  indeterminate  sentence  for  prisoners. 

8 — Requiring  one  physician  on  the  board  of  the  Insane  Asylum 
to  be  a  woman. 

9 — Establishing  truant  schools. 

10 — Making  better  provision  for  the  care  of  the  feeble-minded. 

II — ^For  tree  preservation. 

12 — For  the  inspection  of  private  eleemosynary  institutions  by 
the  State  Board  of  Charities. 

13 — Various  steps  toward  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals. 

14 — Providing  that  foreign  life  and  accident  insurance  com- 
panies, when  sued,  must  pay  the  costs. 


250      History  of  Women's  Rights 

Before  I  leave  the  discussion  as  to  whether 
politics  degrade  women,  it  will  not  be  out  of 
place  to  consider  the  question  whether  certain 
women  may  not,  if  they  have  a  vote,  degrade 
politics.  Of  such  women  there  are  two  classes — 
the  immoral  and  the  merely  ignorant.  As  to 
the  former,  much  fear  has  been  expressed  that  they 
would  be  the  very  agents  for  unscrupulous  poli- 
ticians to  use  at  the  polls.     Exact  data  on  this 

15 — Establishing  a  juvenile  court. 

16 — Making  education  compulsory  for  all  children  between 
the  ages  of  8  and  16,  except  those  who  are  ill  or  those  who  are 
14  and  have  completed  the  eighth  grade,  or  those  whose  parents 
need  their  help  and  support. 

17 — Making  the  mother  and  father  joint  heirs  of  a  deceased 
child. 

18 — Providing  for  union  high  schools. 

19 — Establishing  a  State  travelling  library  commission. 

20 — Providing  that  any  person  employing  a  child  under  14 
in  any  mine,  mill,  or  factory  be  punished  by  imprisonment  in 
addition  to  a  fine. 

21 — Requiring  the  joint  signature  of  the  husband  and  wife  to 
a  mortgage  of  a  homestead. 

22 — Forbidding  the  insuring  of  the  lives  of  children  under  10. 

23 — Forbidding  children  of  16  or  under  to  work  more  than  six 
hours  a  day  in  any  mill,  factory,  or  other  occupation  that  may 
be  unhealthful. 

24 — Making  it  a  criminal  offence  to  contribute  to  the  de- 
linquency of  children — the  parental  responsibility  act. 

25 — Making  it  a  misdemeanour  to  fail  to  support  aged  or  in- 
firm parents. 

26 — Providing  that  no  woman  shall  work  more  than  eight 
hours  a  day  at  work  requiring  her  to  be  on  her  feet. 

27 — Restricting  the  time  for  shooting  doves. 

28 — Abolishing  the  binding  out  of  girls  committed  to  the  In- 
dustrial School  until  the  age  of  21. 

29 — A  pure  food  law  in  harmony  with  the  national  law. 


General  Considerations  251 

matter  are  not  available.  I  shall  content  myself 
with  quoting  a  statement  by  Mrs.  Ida  Husted 
Harper ' : 

"That  'immoral'  class,"  said  Mrs.  Harper,  "is 
a  bogey  that  has  never  materialised  in  States 
where  women  have  the  suffrage.  Those  women 
don't  vote.  Indeed,  Denver's  experience  has 
been  interesting  in  that  respect.  When  equal 
suffrage  was  first  granted,  women  of  that  class 
were  compelled  by  the  police  to  register.  It  was 
a  question  of  doing  as  the  police  said,  of  course, 
or  being  arrested.  The  women  did  not  want  to 
vote.  They  don't  go  under  their  real  names ;  they 
have  no  fixed  residence,  and  so  on.  Anyway, 
the  last  thing  they  wanted  was  to  be  registered 
voters. 

"But  the  corrupt  political  element  needed  their 
vote,  and  were  after  it,  through  the  police.  These 
women  actually  appealed  to  a  large  woman's 
political  club  to  use  its  influence  to  keep  the  police 
from  forcing  them  to  register.  A  committee  was 
appointed;  it  was  found  that  the  story  was  true; 
coercion  was  stopped,  and  the  women's  vote 
turned  out  the  chief  of  police  who  attempted  it. 
There  is  now  no  coercion,  and  this  class  simply 
pays  no  attention  to  politics  at  all." 

The  doubling  of  the  number  of  ignorant  voters 
by  giving  all  women  alike  the  ballot  would  be  a 
more  serious  affair.  A  remedy  for  that,  however, 
lies  in  making  an  educational  test  a  necessary 

'  In  the  Boston  Herald  for  June  4,  19 10. 


252       History  of  Women's  Rights 

qualification  for  all  voters.  In  this  connec- 
tion the  remarks  of  Mr.  G.  H.  Putnam  are  sug- 
gestive^: "If  I  were  a  citizen  of  Massachusetts 
or  of  any  State  which,  like  Massachusetts,  pos- 
sesses such  educational  qualification,  I  should  be 
an  active  worker  for  the  cause  of  equal  suffrage. 
As  a  citizen  of  New  York  who  has  during  the  last 
fifty  years  done  his  share  of  work  in  the  attempt 
to  improve  municipal  conditions,  I  am  forced  to 
the  conclusion  that  it  will  be  wiser  to  endure  for 
a  further  period  the  inconsistency,  the  stupidity, 
and  the  injustice  of  the  disfranchisement  of  thou- 
sands of  intelligent  women  voters  rather  than  to 
accept  the  burden  of  an  increase  in  the  mass 
of  unintelligent  voters.  The  first  step  toward 
'equal  suffrage'  will,  in  my  judgment,  be  a  fight 
for  an  educational  qualification  for  all  voters." 

Those  who  maintain  that  when  women  are  in- 
dependent and  self-asserting,  they  will  lose  their 
influence  over  men,  assume  that  we  view  things 
to-day  as  they  did  a  century  ago  and  that  the 
thoughts  of  men  are  not  widened  with  the  pro- 
gress of  the  suns.  The  woman  who  can  share  the 
aspirations,  the  thoughts,  the  complete  life  of  a 
man,  who  can  understand  his  work  thoroughly 
and  support  him  with  the  sympathy  bom  of 
perfect  comprehension,  will  exert  a  far  vaster  in- 
fluence over  him  than  the  milk-and-water  ideal 
who  was  advised  "to  smile  when  her  husband 
smiled,  to  frown  when  he  frowned,  and  to  be 

» Quoted  in  the  New  York  Times  of  Jan.  9,  1910.  " 


General  Considerations  253 

discreetly  silent  when  the  conversation  turned  on 
subjects  of  importance."  It  is  a  good  thing  for 
women  to  be  self-asserting  and  independent. 
There  is  and  always  has  been  a  class  of  men  who, 
like  Mr.  Murdstone,  are  amenable  to  justice  and 
reason  only  when  they  know  that  their  proposed 
victim  can  at  any  time  break  the  chains  with 
which  they  would  bind  her. 

This  brings  us  to  the  last  of  the  social  or  political 
arguments,  viz.,  ''Most  women  do  not  want  to 
vote."'  Precisely  the  same  argument  has  been 
used  by  slave  owners  from  time  immemorial 
— the  slaves  do  not  wish  to  be  free.  As  Pro- 
fessor Thomas  writes^:  "Certainly  the  negroes 
of  Virginia  did  not  greatly  desire  freedom  before 
the  idea  was  developed  by  agitation  from  the 
outside,  and  many  of  them  resented  this  outside 
interference.  'In  general,  in  the  whole  western 
Sahara  desert,  slaves  are  as  much  astonished 
to  be  told  that  their  relation  to  their  owners  is 
wrong  and  that  they  ought  to  break  it,  as 
boys  amongst  us  would  be  to  be  told  that 
their  relation  to  their  fathers  was  wrong  and 
ought  to  be  broken.'  And  it  is  reported  from 
eastern  Borneo  that  a  white  man  could  hire  no 
natives  for  wages.  '  They  thought  it  degrading  to 
work  for  wages,  but  if  he  would  buy  them,  they 
would  work  for  him.'  "     It  is  akin  to  the  old 

»  See,  for  example,  Lyman  Abbott  in  the  Outlook  for  Feb.  19, 
1910. 

*  American  Magazine,  July,  1909. 


254      History  of  Women's  Rights 

contention  of  despots  that  when  their  subjects 
are  fit  for  freedom,  they  will  make  them  free; 
but  nobody  has  ever  seen  such  a  time. 

Reform  of  evil  conditions  does  not  come  from 
below;  leaders  with  visions  of  the  future  must 
point  the  way.  I  once  heard  of  a  very  respectable 
lady  of  Boston  who  exclaimed  indignantly  against 
certain  proposed  changes  in  child  labour  laws  in 
North  Carolina,  where  she  owned  shares  in  a  cot- 
ton mill.  She  maintained  that  the  children  who 
worked  at  the  looms  ten  hours  a  day  expressed 
no  discontent;  it  kept  them  off  the  streets;  and 
the  operators,  in  the  kindness  of  their  hearts,  had 
actually  had  the  looms  made  especially  to  ac- 
commodate conveniently  the  diminutive  size  of 
the  little  workers.  Some  people  might,  with 
great  profit  to  themselves,  read  Plato's  superb 
allegory  of  the  men  in  the  cave. 

The  fact  that  various  women's  associations  have 
been  instituted  in  opposition  to  the  extension  of 
woman  suffrage — as  in  Boston  and  New  York — 
is  no  argument  for  depriving  all  women  of  the 
franchise.  If  the  women  who  compose  these 
societies  do  not  care  to  vote,  they  do  not  need  to ; 
but  they  have  no  right  to  deprive  of  their  rights 
those  who  do  so  desire.  It  is  said  that  good 
women  will  not  go  to  the  polls;  yet  there  are 
in  every  large  city  hundreds  of  respectable  males 
who  disdain  to  vote.  A  woman  is  more  likely  to 
have  a  sense  of  duty  to  vote  than  a  man.  It  is 
the  old  cry,  "Don't  disturb  the  old  order  of  things. 


General  Considerations  255 

If  you  make  us  think  for  ourselves,  we  shall  be  so 
unhappy."  So  Galileo  was  brought  to  trial, 
so  Anne  Hutchinson  was  banished;  and  so  per- 
secuted they  the  prophets  before  them. 

IV.  Another  argument  that  is  made  much  of 
is  the  intellectual  inferiority  of  woman.  For  ages 
women  were  allowed  no  higher  education  than 
reading,  writing,  and  simple  arithmetic,  often 
not  even  these;  yet  Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning, 
George  Sand,  George  Eliot,  Harriet  Martineau, 
Jane  Austen,  and  some  scores  of  others  did  work 
which  showed  them  to  be  the  peers  of  any  minds 
of  their  day.  And  if  no  woman  can  justly 
claim  to  have  attained  an  eminence  such  as  that 
of  Shakespeare  in  letters  or  of  Darwin  in  science, 
we  may  question  whether  Shakespeare  would  have 
been  Shakespeare  or  Darwin  Darwin  if  the  society 
which  surrounded  them  had  insisted  that  it  was 
a  sin  for  them  to  use  their  minds  and  that  they 
should  not  presume  to  meddle  with  knowledge. 
When  a  girl  for  the  first  time  in  America  took  a 
public  examination  in  geometry,  in  1829,  men 
wagged  their  heads  gravely  and  prophesied  the 
speedy  dissolution  of  family  and  state. 

To  the  list  of  women  whose  service  for  their 
fellows  would  have  been  lost  if  the  old-time  bar- 
riers had  been  maintained,  may  be  added  the  name 
of  the  late  Dr.  Mary  Putnam  Jacobi.  Mary 
Putnam  secured  her  preliminary  medical  educa- 
tion in  the  early  '6o's,  and  found  herself  keenly 
troubled  and  dissatisfied  at  the  inadequacy  of  the 


256      History  of  Women's  Rights 

facilities  extended  to  women  for  the  study  of 
medicine.  She  insisted  that  if  women  practi- 
tioners were  to  be,  as  she  expressed  it,  "turned 
loose"  upon  the  community  with  license  to  prac- 
tise, they  should,  not  only  as  a  matter  of  justice 
to  themselves  but  of  protection  for  the  women 
and  children  whose  lives  they  would  have  in  their 
hands,  be  properly  qualified. 

At  the  time  in  question,  the  medical  profession 
took  the  ground  that  women  might  enjoy  the 
benefit  of  a  little  medical  education  but  they  were 
denied  the  facilities  for  any  thorough  training  or 
for  any  research  work.  Mary  Putnam  secured 
her  graduate  degree  from  the  great  medical  school 
of  the  University  of  Paris,  being  the  first  woman 
who  had  been  admitted  to  the  school  since  the 
fourteenth  century.  Returning  after  six  years 
of  thorough  training,  she  did  much  during  the 
remaining  years  of  her  life  to  secure  and  to  main- 
tain for  women  physicians  the  highest  possible 
standard  of  training  and  of  practice.  It  was 
natural  that  with  this  experience  of  the  require- 
ment of  equal  facilities  for  women  in  her  own 
work,  she  should  always  have  been  a  believer  in 
the  extension  of  equal  facilities  for  any  citizen*s 
work  for  which,  after  experience,  women  might 
be  found  qualified.  She  was,  therefore,  an  ardent 
advocate  of  equal  suffrage. 

One  needs  but  recall  the  admirable  intellectual 
work  of  women  to-day  to  wonder  at  the  imbecility 
of  those  who  assert  that  women  are  intellectually 


General  Considerations  257 

the  inferiors  of  men.  Madame 'Curie  in  science, 
Miss  Tarbell  in  political  and  economic  history, 
Miss  Jane  Addams  in  sociological  writings  and 
practice,  the  Rev.  Anna  Howard  Shaw  in  the 
ministry,  Mrs.  Hetty  Green  in  business,  are  a 
few  examples  of  women  whose  mental  ability 
ought  to  bring  a  blush  to  the  Old  Guard.  Mrs. 
Harriman  and  Mrs.  Sage,  who  manage  properties 
of  many  millions,  are  denied  the  privilege  of 
voting  in  regard  to  the  expenditure  of  their  taxes ; 
but  every  ignorant  immigrant  can  cast  a  vote, 
thanks  to  the  doctrine  that  the  political  acumen 
of  a  man,  however  degraded,  is  superior  to  that 
of  a  woman,  however  great  her  genius — an  ad- 
mirable obedience  to  the  saw  in  Ecclesiasticus 
that  the  badness  of  men  is  better  than  the  good- 
ness of  women.  Let  me  quote  again  from  Profes- 
sor Thomas:  "The  men  have  said  that  women 
are  not  intelligent  enough  to  vote,  but  the  women 
have  replied  that  more  of  honesty  than  of  intelli- 
gence is  needed  in  politics  at  present,  and  that 
women  certainly  do  not  represent  the  most  ignor- 
ant portion  of  the  population.  They  claim  that 
voting  is  a  relatively  simple  matter  anyway,  that 
political  freedom  *is  nothing  but  the  control  of 
those  who  do  make  politics  their  business  by  those 
who  do  not,'  and  that  they  have  enough  intelli- 
gence 'to  decide  whether  they  are  properly  gov- 
erned, and  whom  they  will  be  governed  by.' 
They  point  out  also  that  already,  without  the 
ballot,  they  are  instructing  men  how  to  vote  and 

X7 


258      History  of  Women's  Rights 

teaching  them  how  to  mn  a  city ;  that  women  have 
to  journey  to  the  legislature  at  every  session  to 
instruct  members  and  committees  at  legislative 
hearings,  and  that  it  is  absurd  that  women  who 
are  capable  of  instructing  men  how  to  vote  should 
not  be  allowed  to  vote  themselves.  To  the  sug- 
gestion that  they  would  vote  like  their  husbands 
and  that  so  there  would  be  no  change  in  the  po- 
litical situation,  women  admit  that  they  would 
sometimes  vote  like  their  husbands,  because  their 
husbands  sometimes  vote  right;  but  ex-Chief- 
Justice  Fisher  of  Wyoming  says:  'When  the 
Republicans  nominate  a  bad  man  and  the  Demo- 
crats a  good  one,  the  Republican  women  do  not 
hesitate  a  moment  to  "scratch"  the  bad  and  sub- 
stitute the  good.  It  is  just  so  with  the  Democrats ; 
hence  we  almost  always  have  a  mixture  of  office- 
holders. I  have  seen  the  effects  of  female  suffrage, 
and,  instead  of  being  a  means  of  encouragement 
to  fraud  and  corruption,  it  tends  greatly  to  purify 
elections  and  to  promote  better  government.' 
Now,  'scratching'  is  the  most  difficult  feature  of 
the  art  of  voting,  and  if  women  have  mastered 
this,  they  are  doing  very  well.  Furthermore,  the 
English  suffragettes  have  completely  outgeneralled 
the  professional  politicians.  They  discovered 
that  no  cause  can  get  recognition  in  politics  unless 
it  is  brought  to  the  attention,  and  that  John  Bull 
in  particular  will  not  begin  to  pay  attention  '  until 
you  stand  on  your  head  to  talk  to  him.'  They 
regretted  to  do  this,  but  in  doing  it  they  secured 


General  Considerations  259 

the  attention  and  interest  of  all  England.  They 
then  followed  a  relentless  policy  of  opposing  the 
election  of  any  candidate  of  the  party  in  power. 
The  Liberal  men  had  been  playing  with  the  Liberal 
women,  promising  support  and  then  laughing  the 
matter  off.  But  they  are  now  reduced  to  an 
appeal  to  the  maternal  instinct  of  the  women. 
They  say  it  is  unloving  of  them  to  oppose  their 
own  kind.  Politics  is  a  poor  game,  but  this  is 
politics." 

V.  The  last  objection  I  would  call  the  moral. 
It  embraces  such  arguments  as,  that  woman  is  too 
impulsive,  too  easily  swayed  by  her  emotions  to 
hold  responsible  positions,  that  the  world  is  very 
evil  and  slippery,  and  that  she  must  therefore 
constantly  have  man  to  protect  her — a  pious  duty, 
which  he  avows  solemnly  it  has  ever  been  his 
special  delight  to  perform.  The  preceding  pages 
are  a  commentary  on  the  manner  in  which  man 
has  discharged  this  duty.  In  Delaware,  for  in- 
stance, the  age  of  legal  consent  was  until  1889 
seven  years.  The  institution  of  Chivalry,  to  take 
another  example,  is  usually  praised  for  the  high 
estimation  and  protection  it  secured  for  women; 
yet  any  one  who  has  read  its  literature  knows 
that,  in  practice,  it  did  nothing  of  the  sort.  The 
noble  lord  who  was  so  gallant  to  his  lady  love 
— ^who,  by  the  way,  was  frequently  the  wife  of  an- 
other man — had  very  little  scruple  about  se- 
ducing a  maid  of  low  degree.  The  same  gallantry 
is  conspicuous  in  the  Letters  of  Lord  Chesterfield, 


26o      History  of  Women's  Rights 

beneath  whose  unctuous  courtesy  the  beast  of 
sensuality  is  always  leering. 

In  the  past  the  main  function  of  woman  out- 
side of  the  rearing  of  children  has  been  to  satisfy 
the  carnal  appetite  of  man,  to  prepare  his  food, 
to  minister  to  his  physical  comfort;  she  was 
barred  from  participation  in  the  intellectual. 
In  order  to  hold  her  to  these  bonds  a  Divine  Sanc- 
tion was  sought.  The  Mohammedan  foimd  it  in 
the  Koran;  the  Christian,  in  the  Bible — just  as 
slavery  was  justified  repeatedly  from  the  story 
of  Ham,  just  as  the  Stuarts  and  the  Bourbons  be- 
lieved firmly  that  they  were  the  special  favourites 
of  God. 

Strangely  enough,  men  who  are  so  sensitive 
about  the  moral  welfare  of  women  will  visit  a 
dance  hall  where  women  are  degraded  nightly, 
and  will  allow  their  daughters  to  marry  "re- 
formed" rakes.  Men  will  not  permit  any  men- 
tion of  sexual  matters  in  their  homes,  and  will 
let  their  children  get  their  information  on  the 
street;  and  all  for  the  very  simple  reason  that 
they  are  afraid  the  truth  will  hurt,  will  make 
people  think.  Men  have  been  remarkably  sensi- 
tive about  having  women  speak  in  public  for  their 
rights ;  but  they  watch  with  zest  a  woman  scream- 
ing nonsense  on  the  stage. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  many  women  are  swayed 
too  easily  by  their  emotions.  We  must  recollect, 
however,  that  for  some  thousands  of  years  woman 
has  been  carefully  drilled  to  believe  that  she  is  an 


General  Considerations  261 

emotional  creature.  If  a  dozen  people  conspire 
to  tell  a  man  that  he  is  looking  badly,  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  he  will  feel  ill.  Certainly  Florence 
Nightingale  and  Clara  Barton  exhibited  no  lack 
of  firmness  on  the  shambles  of  battlefields;  and 
there  are  few  men  living  who  cannot  recall  in- 
stances of  women  who  have,  in  the  face  of  disaster 
and  evil  fortune,  shown  a  steady  perseverance  and 
will-power  in  earning  a  living  for  themselves  and 
their  children  that  men  have  not  surpassed. 

Having  in  the  preceding  pages  considered  the 
five  capital  objections  to  the  concession  of  equal 
suffrage,  I  shall  now,  in  accordance  with  my  plan, 
say  something  of  the  much-mooted  question  of 
the  superiority  or  inferiority  of  one  sex  to  the  other. 
It  might  be  concluded  from  the  foregoing  account 
that  I  see  little  difference  in  the  aptitudes  and 
powers  of  the  sexes  physically,  morally,  or  in- 
tellectually. That  does  not  necessarily  follow. 
It  is  possible  to  conceive  of  each  sex  as  the  com- 
plement of  the  other;  and  between  complements 
there  can  be  no  question  either  of  superiority  or 
of  inferiority.  The  great  historian  of  European 
Morals  has  analysed  the  constitutional  differ- 
ences of  the  sexes  as  he  conceived  them ;  and  I  may 
quote  his  remarks  as  pertinent  to  my  theme. 
Lecky  writes  as  follows  ^  : 

"Physically,  men  have  the  indisputable  super- 

*  History  of  European  Morals,  vol.  ii,  pp.  379  and  following. 
New  York,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1869. 


262       History  of  Women's  Rights 

iority  in  strength,  and  women  in  beauty.  In- 
tellectually, a  certain  inferiority  of  the  female  sex 
can  hardly  be  denied  when  we  remember  how 
almost  exclusively  the  foremost  places  in  every 
department  of  science,  literature,  and  art  have 
been  occupied  by  men,  how  infinitesimally  small 
is  the  number  of  women  who  have  shown  in  any 
form  the  very  highest  order  of  genius,  how  many 
of  the  greatest  men  have  achieved  their  greatness 
in  defiance  of  the  most  adverse  circumstances, 
and][how  completely  women  have  failed  in  obtain- 
ing the  first  position,  even  in  music  or  painting, 
for  the  cultivation  of  which  their  circumstances 
would  appear  most  propitious.  It  is  as  impossible 
to  find  a  female  Raphael,  or  a  female  Handel,  as  a 
female  Shakespeare  or  Newton.  Women  are  in- 
tellectually more  desultory  and  volatile  than  men ; 
they  are  more  occupied  with  particular  instances 
than  with  general  principles;  they  judge  rather 
by  intuitive  perceptions  than  by  deliberate  rea- 
soning or  past  experience.  They  are,  however, 
usually  superior  to  men  in  nimbleness  and  rapidity 
of  thought,  and  in  the  gift  of  tact  or  the  power  of 
seizing  speedily  and  faithfully  the  finer  inflections 
of  feeling,  and  they  have  therefore  often  attained 
very  great  eminence  as  conversationalists,  as  letter- 
writers,  as  actresses,  and  as  novelists. 

"Morally,  the  general  superiority  of  women  over 
men  is,  I  think,  unquestionable.  If  we  take  the 
somewhat  coarse  and  inadequate  criterion  of  po- 
lice statistics,  we  find  that,  while  the  male  and 


General  Considerations  263 

female  populations  are  nearly  the  same  in  number, 
the  crimes  committed  by  men  are  usually  rather 
more  than  five  times  as  numerous  as  those  com- 
mitted by  women;  and  although  it  may  be  justly 
observed  that  men,  as  the  stronger  sex,  and  the 
sex  upon  whom  the  burden  of  supporting  the 
family  is  thrown,  have  more  temptations  than 
women,  it  must  be  remembered,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  extreme  poverty  which  verges  upon  starv- 
ation is  most  common  among  women,  whose 
means  of  livelihood  are  most  restricted,  and  whose 
earnings  are  smallest  and  most  precarious.  Self- 
sacrifice  is  the  most  conspicuous  element  of  a 
virtuous  and  religious  character,  and  it  is  certainly 
far  less  common  among  men  than  among  women, 
whose  whole  lives  are  usually  spent  in  yielding  to 
the  will  and  consulting  the  pleasures  of  another. 
There  are  two  great  departments  of  virtue:  the 
impulsive,  or  that  which  springs  spontaneously 
from  the  emotions,  and  the  deliberative,  or  that 
which  is  performed  in  obedience  to  the  sense  of 
duty;  and  in  both  of  these  I  imagine  women  are 
superior  to  men.  Their  sensibility  is  greater, 
they  are  more  chaste  both  in  thought  and  act,  more 
tender  to  the  erring,  more  compassionate  to  the 
suffering,  more  affectionate  to  all  about  them.  .  .  . 
In  active  courage  women  are  inferior  to  men.  In 
the  courage  of  endurance  they  are  commonly 
their  superiors.  ...  In  the  ethic  of  intellect 
they  are  decidedly  inferior.  To  repeat  an  expres- 
sion I  have  already  employed,  women  very  rarely 


264      History  of  Women's  Rights 

love  truth,  though  they  love  passionately  what 
they  call  'the  truth'  or  opinions  they  have  re- 
ceived from  others,  and  hate  vehemently  those 
who  differ  from  them.  They  are  little  capable  of 
impartiality  or  doubt;  their  thinking  is  chiefly  a 
mode  of  feeling;  though  very  generous  in  their 
acts,  they  are  rarely  generous  in  their  opinions. 
.  .  .  They  are  less  capable  than  men  of  per- 
ceiving qualifying  circumstances,  of  admitting 
the  existence  of  elements  of  good  in  systems  to 
which  they  are  opposed,  of  distinguishing  the 
personal  character  of  an  opponent  from  the 
opinions  he  maintains.  Men  lean  most  to  justice, 
and  women  to  mercy.  Men  are  most  addicted 
to  intemperance  and  brutality,  women  to  frivolity 
and  jealousy.  Men  excel  in  energy,  self-reliance, 
perseverance,  and  magnanimity,  women  in  hu- 
mility, gentleness,  modesty,  and  endurance.  .  .  . 
Their  religious  or  devotional  realisations  are  in- 
contestably  more  vivid.  .  .  .  But  though  more 
intense,  the  sympathies  of  women  are  commonly 
less  wide  than  those  of  men.  Their  imaginations 
individualise  more,  their  affections  are,  in  con- 
sequence, concentrated  rather  on  leaders  than  on 
causes.  ...  In  politics,  their  enthusiasm  is 
more  naturally  loyalty  than  patriotism.  In  his- 
tory, they  are  even  more  inclined  than  men  to 
I  dwell  exclusively  upon  biographical  incidents  or 
j  characteristics  as  distinguished  from  the  march 
of  general  causes." 

Experience,  by  which  alone  mankind  has  ever 


General  Considerations  265 

learned  or  can  learn,  will  show  how  far  the  char- 
acteristics enumerated  by  Lecky  are  innate  and 
how  far  they  have  been  acquired  in  the  course  of 
ages  by  certain  habits  of  belief  and  education. 

The  securing  of  citizens'  rights  for  woman  will 
of  necessity  depend  on  the  attitude  of  society. 
There  may  be  numerous  laws  for  her  relief  on  the 
statute  books;  but  if  society  frowns  on  her  ap- 
pearance in  court,  it  will  be  only  in  exceptional 
cases  that  she  will  appeal  to  the  courts.  To  one 
who  is  familiar  with  the  records  of  daily  life  a 
himdred  years  ago  there  is  little  doubt  that  con- 
jugal infidelity  on  the  part  of  the  husband  was 
more  flagrant  then  than  it  is  to-day;  but  there 
were  infinitely  fewer  divorces.  The  reason  for 
this  is  simply  that  public  sentiment  on  the  sub- 
ject has  changed.  A  century  ago,  a  divorced 
woman  could  do  nothing;  the  wife  was  exhorted 
to  bear  her  husband's  faults  with  meekness; 
and  the  expansion  of  industry  had  not  yet  opened 
to  her  that  opportunity  of  making  her  own  living 
which  she  now  possesses  in  a  hundred  ways. 
Women  were  entirely  dependent  on  men ;  and  the 
men  knew  it.     To-day  they  are  not  so  sure. 

The  old  conception  of  woman's  position  was 
subjection,  based  on  mental  and  physical  inferi- 
ority and  supported  by  Biblical  arguments.  The 
newer  conception  is  that  of  a  complement,  in 
which  neither  inferiority  nor  superiority  finds 
place.    The  old  conception  was  based,  like  every 


266      History  of  Women's  Rights 

institution  of  the  times,  on  fear.  Men  were 
warned  against  heresy  by  being  reminded  of  the 
tortures  of  hell  fire;  against  crime  by  appealing 
to  their  dread  of  the  gallows.  Between  the  death 
of  Anne  and  the  reign  of  George  III  one  hundred 
and  eighty-eight  capital  offences  were  added  to 
the  penal  code;  and  crime  at  once  increased  to  an 
amazing  degree.  In  a  system  that  is  founded  on 
fear,  when  once  that  fear  is  removed — as  it 
inevitably  will  be  with  the  growth  of  enlighten- 
ment— there  remains  no  basis  of  action,  no  in- 
centive to  good.  It  has  been  tried  for  centuries 
and  has  yielded  only  Star  Chambers  and  Spanish 
Inquisitions.  It  is  time  that  we  try  a  new  method. 
An  appeal  to  the  sense  of  fair  play,  an  appeal 
to  the  sense  of  duty  and  of  natural  affection 
may  yield  immeasurably  superior  results.  It  has 
been  my  experience  and  personal  observation 
that  the  standard  of  honour  in  our  non-sectarian 
schools,  where  the  fair  play  spirit  is  most  in- 
sisted on,  is  vastly  greater  than  it  was  in  the  old 
sectarian  institutions  where  boys  were  told  morn- 
ing, noon,  and  night  that  they  would  go  to  hell 
if  they  did  not  behave. 

The  new  spirit  is  not  going  to  be  accepted  at 
once  by  society.  There  must  first  be  some  wail- 
ing and  much  gnashing  of  teeth ;  and  the  monster, 
custom,  which  all  sense  doth  eat,  will  still  for  a 
time  be  antagonistic  as  it  has  been  in  the  past. 
"  In  no  society  has  life  ever  been  completely  con- 
trolled by  the  reason,"  remarks  Professor  Thomas, 


General  Considerations  267 

"but  mainly  by  the  instincts  and  the  habits  and 
the  customs  growing  out  of  these.  Speaking  in 
a  general  way,  it  may  be  said  that  all  conduct 
both  of  men  and  animals  tends  to  be  right  rather 
than  wrong.  They  do  not  know  why  they  be- 
have in  such  and  such  ways,  but  their  ancestors 
behaved  in  those  ways  and  survival  is  the  guaranty 
that  the  behaviour  was  good.  We  must  admit 
that  within  the  scope  of  their  lives  the  animals 
behave  with  almost  unerring  propriety.  Their 
behaviour  is  simple  and  unvarying,  but  they 
make  fewer  mistakes  than  ourselves.  The  diffi- 
culty in  their  condition  is,  that  having  little 
power  of  changing  their  behavioiu-  they  have  little 
chance  of  improvement.  Now,  in  hiiman  socie- 
ties, and  already  among  gregarious  animals,  one 
of  the  main  conditions  of  survival  was  common 
sentiment  and  behaviour.  So  long  as  defence  of 
life  and  preying  on  outsiders  were  main  concerns 
of  society,  unanimity  and  conformity  had  the 
same  value  which  still  attaches  to  military  disci- 
pline in  warfare  and  to  team  work  in  our  sports. 
Morality  therefore  became  identified  with  uni- 
formity. It  was  actually  better  to  work  upon 
some  system,  however  bad,  than  to  work  on  none 
at  all,  and  early  society  had  no  place  for  the  dis- 
senter. Changes  did  take  place,  for  man  had  the 
power  of  communicating  his  experiences  through 
speech  and  the  same  power  of  imitation  which 
we  show  in  the  adoption  of  fashions,  but  these 
changes   took   place   with   almost   imperceptible 


268      History  of  Women's  Rights 

slowness,  or  if  they  did  not,  those  who  proposed 
them  were  considered  sinners  and  punished  with 
death  or  obloquy. 

''And  it  has  never  made  any  difference  how 
bad  the  existing  order  of  things  might  be.  Those 
who  attempted  to  reform  it  were  always  viewed 
with  suspicion.  Consequently  our  practices  usu- 
ally run  some  decades  or  centuries  behind  our 
theories  and  history  is  even  full  of  cases  where 
the  theory  was  thoroughly  dead  from  the  stand- 
point of  reason  before  it  began  to  do  its  work 
in  society.  A  determined  attitude  of  resistance 
to  change  may  therefore  be  classed  almost  with 
the  instincts,  for  it  is  not  a  response  to  the  reason 
alone,  but  is  very  powerfully  bound  up  with  the 
emotions  which  have  their  seat  in  the  spinal 
cord. 

*'It  is  true  that  this  adhesion  to  custom  is  more 
absolute  and  astonishing  in  the  lower  races  and 
in  the  less  educated  classes,  but  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  point  out  a  single  case  in  history  where  a 
new  doctrine  has  not  been  met  with  bitter  re- 
sistance. We  justly  regard  learning  and  freedom 
of  thought  and  investigation  as  precious,  and  we 
popularly  think  of  Luther  and  the  Reformation  as 
standing  at  the  beginning  of  the  movement  to- 
ward these,  but  Luther  himself  had  no  faith  in 
'the  light  of  reason'  and  he  hated  as  heartily  as 
any  papal  dogmatist  the  'new  learning'  of  Eras- 
mus and  Hutten.  .  .  .  We  are  even  forced  to 
realise  that  the   law   of  habit   continues  to  do 


General  Considerations  269 

its  perfect  work  in  a  strangely  resentful  or 
apathetic  manner  even  when  there  is  no  moral 
issue  at  stake.  ...  Up  to  the  year  18 16,  the 
best  device  for  the  application  of  electricity  to 
telegraphy  had  involved  a  separate  wire  for  each 
letter  of  the  alphabet,  but  in  that  year  Francis 
Ronalds  constructed  a  successful  line  making 
use  of  a  single  wire.  Realising  the  importance  of 
his  invention,  he  attempted  to  get  the  British 
government  to  take  it  up,  but  was  informed  that 
'telegraphs  of  any  kind  are  now  wholly  unneces- 
sary, and  no  other  than  the  one  in  use  will  be 
adopted.'  " 

The  reader  will  doubtless  be  able  to  add  from 
his  own  experience  and  observation  examples 
which  will  support  Professor  Thomas's  admirable 
account  of  the  power  of  custom.  Among  many 
barbarous  tribes  certain  foods,  like  eggs,  are 
taboo;  no  one  knows  why  they  should  not  be  eaten ; 
but  tradition  says  their  use  produces  bad  results, 
and  one  who  presumes  to  taste  them  is  put  to 
death.  To-day,  we  believe  ourselves  rather  highly 
civilised;  but  the  least  observation  of  society 
must  compel  us  to  acknowledge  that  taboo  is 
still  a  vital  power  in  a  multitude  of  matters. 

There  is  a  still  more  forcible  opposition  to  a  re- 
casting of  the  status  of  women  by  those  men  who 
have  beheld  no  complete  regeneration  of  society 
through  the  extension  of  the  franchise  in  four 
of  our  States.  Curiously  oblivious  of  the  fact 
that   partial    regeneration    through    the    instru- 


270      History  of  Women's  Rights 

mentality  of  women  is  something  attained,  they 
take  this  as  a  working  argument  for  the  useless- 
ness  of  extending  the  suffrage.  They  point  to 
other  evils  that  have  followed  and  tell  you  that  if 
this  is  the  result  of  the  emancipation  of  women, 
they  will  have  none  of  it.  For  example,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  one  may  see  from  time  to 
time  the  pseudo-intellectual  woman.  She  affects 
an  interest  in  literature,  attends  lectures  on 
Browning  and  Emerson,  shows  an  academic  in- 
terest in  slum,  work,  and  presents,  on  the  whole,  a 
selfishness  or  an  egotism  which  repels.  There 
never  has  been  a  revolution  in  society,  however 
beneficial  eventually,  which  did  not  bring  at 
least  some  evil  in  its  train.  I  cannot  do  better 
in  this  connection  than  to  quote  Lord  Macaulay's 
splendid  words  (from  the  essay  on  Milton):  "If 
it  were  possible  that  a  people,  brought  up  under 
an  intolerant  and  arbitrary  system,  could  subvert 
that  system  without  acts  of  cruelty  and  folly, 
half  the  objections  to  despotic  power  would  be 
removed.  We  should,  in  that  case,  be  compelled 
to  acknowledge  that  it  at  least  produces  no  per- 
nicious effects  on  the  intellectual  and  moral  char- 
acter of  a  people.  We  deplore  the  outrages  which 
accompany  revolutions.  But  the  more  violent 
the  outrages,  the  more  assured  we  feel  that  a 
revolution  was  necessary.  The  violence  of  these 
outrages  will  always  be  proportioned  to  the  fero- 
city and  ignorance  of  the  people;  and  the  ferocity 
and  ignorance  of  the  people  will  be  proportioned 


General  Considerations  271 

to  the  oppression  and  degradation  under  which 
they  have  been  accustomed  to  Hve.  Thus  it  was 
in  our  civil  war.  The  rulers  in  the  church  and 
state  reaped  only  what  they  had  sown.  They 
had  prohibited  free  discussion — they  had  done 
their  best  to  keep  the  people  unacquainted  with 
their  duties  and  their  rights.  The  retribution  was 
just  and  natural.  If  they  suffered  from  popular 
ignorance,  it  was  because  they  had  themselves 
taken  away  the  key  to  knowledge.  If  they  were 
assailed  with  blind  fury,  it  was  because  they  had 
exacted  an  equally  blind  submission. 

**It  is  the  character  of  such  revolutions  that  we 
always  see  the  worst  of  them  at  first.  Till  men 
have  been  for  some  time  free,  they  know  not  how 
to  use  their  freedom.  The  natives  of  wine-coun- 
tries are  always  sober.  In  climates  where  wine 
is  a  rarity,  intemperance  aboimds.  A  newly- 
liberated  people  may  be  compared  to  a  northern 
army  encamped  on  the  Rhine  or  the  Xeres.  It  is 
said  that  when  soldiers  in  such  a  situation  first 
find  themselves  able  to  indulge  without  restraint 
in  such  a  rare  and  expensive  luxury,  nothing 
is  to  be  seen  but  intoxication.  Soon,  however, 
plenty  teaches  discretion ;  and  after  wine  has  been 
for  a  few  months  their  daily  fare,  they  become 
more  temperate  than  they  had  ever  been  in  their 
own  coimtry.  In  the  same  manner,  the  final  and 
permanent  fruits  of  liberty  are  wisdom,  modera- 
tion, and  mercy.  Its  immediate  effects  are  often 
atrocious  crimes,  conflicting  errors,  skepticism  on 


2^2      History  of  Women's  Rights 

points  the  most  clear,  dogmatism  on  points  the 
most  mysterious.  It  is  just  at  this  crisis  that 
its  enemies  love  to  exhibit  it.  They  pull  down 
the  scaffolding  from  the  half -finished  edifice ;  they 
point  to  the  flying  dust,  the  falling  bricks,  the 
comfortless  rooms,  the  frightful  irregularity  of 
the  whole  appearance ;  and  then  ask  in  scorn  where 
the  promised  splendour  and  comfort  are  to  be 
found?  If  such  miserable  sophisms  were  to  pre- 
vail, there  never  would  be  a  good  house  or  a 
good  government  in  the  world.  .  .  .  There  is 
only  one  cure  for  the  evils  which  newly  acquired 
freedom  produces — and  that  cure  is  freedom. 
When  a  prisoner  leaves  his  cell,  he  cannot  bear 
the  light  of  day — he  is  unable  to  discriminate 
colours  or  to  recognise  faces.  But  the  remedy 
is  not  to  remand  him  into  his  dungeon,  but  to 
accustom  him  to  the  rays  of  the  sun.  The 
blaze  of  truth  and  liberty  may  at  first  dazzle 
and  bewilder  nations  which  have  become  half- 
blind  in  the  house  of  bondage.  But  let  them 
gaze  on,  and  they  will  soon  be  able  to  bear  it. 
In  a  few  years  men  learn  to  reason.  The  ex- 
treme violence  of  opinion  subsides.  Hostile  the- 
ories correct  each  other.  The  scattered  elements 
of  truth  cease  to  conflict,  and  begin  to  coalesce. 
And  at  length  a  system  of  justice  and  order  is 
educed  out  of  the  chaos. 

"Many  politicians  of  our  time  are  in  the  habit 
of  laying  it  doyn  as  a  self-evident  proposition, 
that  no  people  ought  to  be  free  till  they  are 


General  Considerations  273 

fit  to  use  their  freedom.  The  maxim  is  worthy 
of  the  fool  in  the  old  story,  who  resolved  not  to 
go  into  the  water  till  he  had  learnt  to  swim.  If  men 
are  to  wait  for  liberty  till  they  become  wise  and 
good  in  slavery,  they  may  indeed  wait  for  ever." 

The  speedy  dissolution  of  family  and  state  was 
prophesied  by  men  when  first  a  girl  took  a  public 
examination  in  geometry;  whenever  women  have 
been  given  complete  control  of  their  own  prop- 
erty; when  they  have  been  received  into  the  pro- 
fessions and  industries;  and  now  in  like  manner 
people  dread  the  condition  of  things  that  they 
imagine  might  follow  if  women  are  given  the  right 
to  vote  and  to  hold  office.  We  may  well  believe, 
with  Lecky,  that  there  are  "certain  eternal  moral 
landmarks  which  never  can  be  removed."  But 
no  matter  what  our  views  may  be  of  the  destinies, 
characteristics,  ftmctions,  or  limitations  of  the 
sex,  certain  reforms  are  indispensable  before  wo- 
man and,  through  her,  family  life  can  reach  their 
highest  development.  Of  these  reforms  I  shall 
speak  briefly  and  with  them  close  my  history. 

I.  The  double  standard  of  morality  for  the 
sexes  must  gradually  be  abolished.^     Of  all  the 

^  Note,  for  example,  that  in  Maryland  a  man  can  get  a  divorce 
if  his  wife  has  had  sexual  intercourse  before  marriage;  but  a  wife 
cannot  get  a  divorce  from  her  husband  if  he  has  been  guilty  of  the 
same  thing.  In  Texas,  adultery  on  the  part  of  the  wife  entitles 
the  husband  to  a  divorce;  but  the  wife  can  obtain  divorce  from 
her  husband  only  if  he  has  abandoned  her  and  lived  in  adultery 
with  another  woman. 
z8 


274      History  of  Women's  Rights 

sad  commentaries  on  Christian  nations  none  is  so 
pathetic  or  so  tragical  as  the  fact  that  for  nineteen 
centuries  men  have  been  tacitly  and  openly  al- 
lowed, at  least  before  marriage,  unrestrained 
liberty  to  indulge  in  sexual  vice  and  intemper- 
ance, while  one  false  step  on  the  part  of  the  wo- 
man has  condemned  her  to  social  obloquy  and, 
frequently,  to  a  life  on  the  street.  This  strange 
system,  a  blasphemy  against  the  Christ  who 
suffered  death  in  order  to  purify  the  earth,  has 
had  its  defenders  not  merely  among  the  un- 
educated who  do  not  think,  but  even  among 
the  most  acute  intellects.  The  philosopher 
Hume  justifies  it  by  commenting  on  the  vastly 
greater  consequences  attendant  on  vice  in  wo- 
men than  in  men;  divines  like  Jeremy  Taylor 
have  encouraged  it  by  urging  women  meekly 
to  bear  the  sins  of  their  husbands.  This  sub- 
ject is  one  of  the  great  taboos  in  modem  so- 
ciety. Let  me  exhort  the  reader  to  go  to 
any  physician  and  get  from  him  the  statistics 
of  gonorrhea  and  syphilis  which  he  has  met 
in  his  practice;  let  him  learn  of  the  child- 
ren bom  blind  and  of  wives  rendered  inva- 
lid for  life  because  their  husbands  once  sowed 
a  crop  of  wild  oats  with  the  sanction  of  so- 
ciety; let  him  read  the  Report  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Fifteen  in  New  York  (G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons,  1902)  on  The  Social  Evil,  the  records 
of  the  Watch  and  Ward  Society  in  Boston, 
or   the   recent    report    of    the   special    jury    in 


General  Considerations  275 

New  York  which  investigated  the  "White  Slave 
Traffic."  ^ 

The  plain  facts  are  not  pleasant.  A  system 
which  has  been  in  vogue  from  the  beginning  of 
history  cannot  be  changed  in  a  decade;  but  the 
desired  state  of  things  will  be  more  speedily 
achieved  and  immediate  good  will  be  accom- 
plished by  three  reforms  which  may  be  begun  at 
once — have  begun,  in  fact.  In  the  first  place,  the 
*'age  of  legal  consent"  should  be  uniformly 
twenty-one.  In  most  States  to-day  it  is  fourteen 
or  sixteen.^  To  the  ordinary  mind  it  is  a  self- 
evident  proposition  that  a  girl  of  those  ages,  the 
slippery  period  of  puberty,  can  but  seldom  realise 
what  she  is  doing  when  she  submits  herself  to  the 
lust  of  scoundrels.  But  the  minds  of  legislators 
pass  understanding;  and  when,  a  few  years  ago, 
a  woman  in  the  Legislature  of  Colorado  proposed 
to  have  the  age  of  consent  raised  from  sixteen  to 
twenty -one,  such  a  storm  of  protest  came  from  her 
male  colleagues  that  the  measure  had  to  be  aban- 
doned. In  the  second  place  the  public  should  be 
made  better  acquainted  with  the  facts  of  prosti- 
tution. When  people  once  realise  thoroughly 
what  sickness  and  social  ulcers  result  from  the 


*  On  Jan.  12,  1910,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  to  check  the  "White  Slave  Traffic"  by  provid- 
ing a  penalty  of  ten  years'  imprisonment  and  a  fine  of  five 
thousand  dollars  for  any  one  who  engages  in  it. 

2  In  some  it  is  even  lower  ;  ten  in  Georgia  and  Mississippi  for 
example. 


276      History  of  Women's  Rights 

presence  in  the  city  of  New  York  of  100,000  de- 
bauched women  (and  the  estimate  is  conserva- 
tive)— when  they  begin  to  reflect  that  their 
children  must  grow  up  in  such  surroundings,  then 
perhaps  they  will  question  the  expediency  of  the 
double  standard  of  morality  and  will  insist  that 
what  is  wrong  for  a  woman  is  wrong  for  a  man. 
It  is  a  fact,  to  be  borne  carefully  in  mind,  that 
the  vast  majority  of  prostitutes  begin  their  ca- 
reer below  the  age  of  eighteen  and  usually  at  the 
instigation  of  adult  men,  who  take  advantage  of 
their  ignorance  or  of  their  poverty.  If  the  miser- 
able Thaw  trial  did  nothing  else,  it  at  least  once 
more  called  public  attention  to  conditions  which 
every  intelligent  man  knows  have  existed  for 
years.  Something  can  also  be  done  by  statute. 
New  York  has  made  adultery  a  crime;  and  the 
State  of  Washington  requires  a  physical  examina- 
tion of  the  parties  before  marriage.  In  the  third 
place,  physicians  should  take  more  pains  to  edu- 
cate men  to  the  knowledge  that  a  continent  life 
is  not  a  detriment  to  health — the  contrary  belief 
being  more  widely  spread  than  is  usually  suspected. 
II.  In  the  training  of  women,  care  should  be 
taken  to  impress  upon  them  that  they  are  not 
toys  or  spoiled  children,  but  fellow-citizens,  de- 
voted to  the  common  task  of  advancing  the  ideals 
of  the  nation  to  their  goal. 

The  woman's  cause  is  man's;  they  rise  or  sink 
Together,  dwarf 'd  or  godlike,  bond  or  free: 


General  Considerations  2^]"] 

If  she  be  small,  slight-natured,  miserable, 
How  shall  men  grow? 

Tennyson,  The  Princess, 

A  Being  breathing  thoughtful  breath, 
A  Traveller  between  life  and  death ; 
The  reason  firm,  the  temperate  will, 
Endurance,  foresight,  strength,  and  skill; 
A  perfect  Woman,  nobly  planned. 
To  warn,  to  comfort,  and  command; 
And  yet  a  Spirit  still,  and  bright 
With  something  of  an  angel  light. 

Wordsworth. 

Towards  a  higher  conception  of  their  duties, 
women  are  steadily  advancing.  It  often  happens 
that  the  history  of  words  will  give  a  hint  of  the 
progress  of  civilisation.  Such  a  story  is  told  by 
the  use  of  lady  and  woman.  Not  many  decades 
ago  the  use  of  the  word  woman  in  referring  to 
respectable  members  of  the  sex  was  interpreted 
as  a  lack  of  courtesy.  To-day,  women  prefer 
to  be  called  women. 

III.  Women  should  be  given  the  full  right  to 
enter  any  profession  or  business  which  they  may 
desire.     As  John  Stuart  Mill  says: 

"The  proper  sphere  for  any  human  being  is 
the  highest  sphere  that  being  is  capable  of  attain- 
ing; and  this  cannot  be  ascertained  without  com- 
plete liberty  of  choice." 

"We  are,  as  always,  in  a  period  of  transition," 
remarks    Mr.    Bjorkman, '    "the   old   forms   are 

'  In  Collier's  Weekly,  Feb.  5,  1910. 


278      History  of  Women's  Rights 

falling  away  from  us  on  every  side.  Concerning 
the  new  ones  we  are  still  uncertain  and  divided. 
Whether  woman  shall  vote  or  not,  is  not  the  main 
issue.  She  will  do  so  sooner  or  later  if  it  suits 
her.  No,  the  imperative  question  confronting  us 
is  this:  What  are  we  to  do  that  her  life  once 
more  may  be  full  and  useful  as  it  used  to 
be?  That  question  cannot  be  answered  by  any- 
body but  herself.  Furthermore,  it  can  only  be 
answered  on  the  basis  of  actual  experience.  And 
urged  onward  by  her  never-failing  power  of  in- 
tuition, woman  has  for  once  taken  to  experiment- 
ing. She  has,  if  you  please,  become  temporarily 
catabolic.  But  it  means  merely  that  she  is  seek- 
ing for  new  means  to  fulfil  her  nature,  not  for 
ways  of  violating  it.  And  the  best  thing — nay, 
the  only  thing — man  can  do  to  help  her  is  to  stand 
aside  and  keep  his  faith,  both  in  her  and  in  life. 
Whether  it  be  the  franchise,  or  the  running  of 
railroads,  or  public  offices,  that  her  eager  hands 
and  still  more  eager  soul  should  happen  to  reach 
out  for,  he  must  give  her  free  way.  All  she 
wants  is  to  find  herself,  and  for  this  purpose 
she  must  try  everything  that  once  was  foreign 
to  her  being:  the  trial  over,  she  will  instinctively 
and  unfailingly  pick  out  the  right  new  things 
to  do,  and  will  do  them." 

The  opening  up  of  professions  and  industries  to 
woman  has  been  of  incalculable  benefit  to  her. 
Of  old  the  unmarried  woman  could  do  little  ex- 
cept sit  by  the  fire  and  spin  or  make  clothing  for 


General  Considerations  279 

the  South  Sea  Islanders.  Her  limited  activities 
caused  a  corresponding  influence  on  her  character. 
People  who  have  nothing  to  do  will  naturally 
find  an  outlet  for  their  superfluous  energy  in 
gossip  and  all  the  petty  things  of  life;  if  isolated 
from  a  share  in  what  the  world  is  doing,  they  will 
no  less  naturally  develop  eccentricities  of  character 
and  will  grow  old  prematurely.  To-day,  by  being 
allowed  a  part  in  civic  and  national  movements, 
women  can  ''get  out  of  themselves" — a  powerful 
therapeutic  agent.  Mrs.  Ella  Young,  a  woman  of 
sixty,  was  last  year  made  Superintendent  of  the 
great  Public  School  System  of  Chicago.  Fraulein 
Anna  Heinrichsdorff  is  the  first  woman  in  Ger- 
many to  get  an  engineer's  diploma,  very  recently 
bestowed  upon  her ;  an  "excellent "  mark  was  given 
Fraulein  Heinrichsdorff  in  every  part  of  her  ex- 
amination by  the  Berlin  Polytechnic  Institute. 
Miss  Jean  Gordon,  the  only  factory  inspector 
in  Louisiana,  is  at  present  waging  a  strong  fight 
against  the  attempt  to  exempt  ''first-class" 
theatres  from  the  child-labour  law.  Mrs.  Nellie 
Upham,  of  Colorado,  is  President  and  General 
Manager  of  the  Gold  Divide  Mining,  Milling, 
and  Tunnel  Company  of  Colorado  and  directs 
300  workmen.  These  are  a  few  examples  out  of 
some  thousands  of  what  woman  is  doing.  ^    And 

^  Note  what  the  women  police  of  Chicago  accomplished  in 
1909-1910.  These  women  are  fighting  the  agencies  which 
make  for  juvenile  crime  mostly  and  each  officer  has  a  speci- 
fied "beat"  to  patrol.  Last  year  their  work  amounted  to  the 
following: 


28o      History  of  Women's  Rights 

yet  there  are  men  who  do  not  believe  she  should 
do  anything  but  wash  dishes  and  scrub. 

Much  more  serious  is  the  glaring  discrepancy 
in  the  wages  paid  to  men  and  to  women.  For 
doing  precisely  the  same  work  as  a  man  and  often 
doing  it  better,  woman  receives  a  much  lower 

Complaints  of  selling  liquors  to  minors  investigated 295 

Complaints  of  selling  tobacco  to  minors  investigated. ...  52 

Complaints  of  selling  obscene  postcards  investigated 49 

Complaints  of  poolrooms  investigated 203 

Complaints  of  dance  halls  investigated 92 

Five  and  ten  cent  theatres  visited If0i3 

Penny  arcades  visited 67 

Saloons  visited 735 

Relief  visits 174 

Cases  referred  to  relief  organisations 374 

Legal  aid  cases  referred 105 

Referred  to  Visiting  Nurses'  Association 7 

Housing  cases  referred 51 

Applications  for  work  referred 264 

Placed  in  hospitals 103 

Sent  to  dispensaries 192 

Children  placed  in  homes 240 

Slot  machines  removed 223 

Work  found  for  men 57 

Work  found  for  women 81 

Work  found  for  boys 84 

Work  found  for  girls 90 

Visits  to  ice-cream  parlors 356 

Visits  to  candy  stores 805 

VISITS  TO  COURTS 

Juvenile 451 

Municipal i  ,809 

Criminal 211 

County 86 

Grand  Jury 26 

Conferences  with  state  or  city  officials 1 ,244 


General  Considerations  281 

wage.  The  reasons  are  several  and  specious. 
We  are  told  that  men  have  families  to  support, 
that  women  do  not  have  such  expensive  tastes 
as  men,  that  they  are  incapable  of  doing  as  much 
as  men,  that  by  granting  them  equal  wages  one 
of  the  inducements  to  marry  is  removed.  These 
arguments  are  generally  used  with  the  greatest 
gravity  by  bachelors.  If  men  have  families  to 
support,  women  by  the  hundreds  support  brothers 
and  sisters  and  weak  parents.  That  they  are 
incapable  of  doing  as  much  sounds  unconvincing 

PROSECUTIONS 

Cases  of  abandonment 99 

Assault  and  battery 8 

Contributing  to  delinquency  and  dependency  of  children  232 

Crimes  against  children 12 

Disorderly  conduct 141 

Immoral  dancing 4 

Intoxicating  liquors 33 

Juvenile  Court  cases 78 

Larceny 4 

Tobacco 10 

Sale  of  cocaine 4 

Other  cases no 

Total  prosecutions   738 

RESULTS 

Convictions   311 

Settled  out  of  court lOO 

Nolle  pros,  or  nonsuit 52 

Dismissed 93 

Acquittals 50 

Pending 92 

Total  complaints  received 5.047 


282      History  of  Women's  Rights 

to  one  who  has  seen  the  work  of  sweat-shops.  The 
argument  that  men  have  more  expensive  tastes 
to  satisfy  is  too  feeble  to  deserve  attention. 
Finally,  when  men  argue  that  women  should  be 
forced  to  marry  by  giving  them  smaller  wages, 
they  are  simply  reverting  to  the  time-honoured 
idea  that  the  goal  of  every  woman's  ambition 
should  be  fixed  as  matrimony.  If  the  low  wages 
of  women  produced  no  further  consequence,  one 
might  dismiss  the  matter  as  not  of  essential  im- 
portance; but  inadequate  pay  has  been  found  too 
frequently  to  be  a  direct  cause  of  prostituition. 
No  girl  can  well  keep  body  and  soul  together  on 
four  dollars  a  week;  and  some  business  managers 
have  been  known  to  inform  their  women  employees 
with  frankness  that  a  "gentleman  friend"  is  a 
necessary  adjunct  to  a  limited  income. 

The  women  who  suffer  most  from  low  wages 
are  probably  the  teachers  in  our  primary  schools. 
They  start  usually  on  a  salary  of  about  three 
himdred  and  fifty  dollars  a  year.  For  this  each 
teacher  performs  all  the  minute  labour  and  bears 
all  the  nervous  strain  of  instructing  sixty  pupils 
six  and  a  half  hours  a  day  and  of  correcting  dozens 
of  papers  far  into  the  night.  And  when  crime 
increases  or  the  pupils  are  not  universally  suc- 
cessful in  business,  the  school  teacher  has  the 
added  pleasure  of  getting  blamed  for  it,  being 
told  that  she  ought  to  have  trained  them  better. 
These  facts  lend  some  colour  to  Mark  Twain's 
sage  reflection  that  God  at  first  made  idiots — 


General  Considerations  283 

that  was  for  practice;  then  he  made  school 
boards. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  examples  of  recent 
evolution  in  the  industrial  status  of  women  is 
the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  in  the 
so-called  Ritchie  Case.  The  last  Legislature  of 
Illinois  passed  a  law  limiting  to  ten  hours  the 
working  day  of  women  in  factories  and  stores. 
Now,  as  far  back  as  1893,  the  Legislature  had 
passed  a  similar  law  limiting  woman's  labour  to 
eight  hours;  but  the  Supreme  Court  in  1895  de- 
clared it  unconstitutional  on  the  ground  that  it 
was  an  arbitrary  and  unreasonable  interference 
with  the  right  of  women  to  contract  for  the  sale 
of  their  labour.  When,  therefore,  this  year  a 
ten-hour  bill  was  tried,  W.  C.  Ritchie,  who  had 
secured  the  nullification  of  the  act  of  1893,  again 
protested.  The  decision  of  the  Court,  rendered 
April  21,  19 10,  is  an  excellent  proof  of  the  great 
advance  made  within  two  decades  in  the  position 
of  women.  Reversing  completely  its  judgment  of 
1895,  the  Court  left  far  behind  it  mere  technicali- 
ties of  law  and  found  a  sanction  for  its  change 
of  front  in  the  experience  of  htmianity  and  of  com- 
mon sense.     These  are  its  conclusions: 

**It  is  known  to  all  men,  and  of  what  we  know 
as  men  we  cannot  profess  to  be  ignorant  as  judges : 

"That  woman's  physical  structure  and  the  per- 
formance of  maternal  functions  place  her  at  a 
great  disadvantage  in  the  battle  of  life. 

"That  while  a  man  can  work  for  more  than  ten 


284      History  of  Women's  Rights 

hours  a  day  without  injury  to  himself,  a  woman, 
especially  when  the  burdens  of  motherhood  are 
upon  her,  cannot. 

"That  while  a  man  can  work  standing  upon 
his  feet  for  more  than  ten  hours  a  day,  day 
after  day,  without  injury  to  himself,  a  woman 
cannot. 

''That  to  require  a  woman  to  stand  upon  her 
feet  for  more  than  ten  hours  in  any  one  day  and  to 
perform  severe  manual  labour  while  thus  standing 
has  the  effect  of  impairing  her  health. 

"And  as  weakly  and  sickly  women  cannot  be 
the  mothers  of  vigorous  children,  it  is  of  the  great- 
est importance  to  the  public  that  the  State  take 
such  measures  as  may  be  necessary  to  protect 
its  women  from  the  consequences  produced  by 
long-continued  manual  labour  in  those  occupations 
which  tend  to  break  them  down  physically. 

"It  would  seem  obvious,  therefore,  that  legisla- 
tion which  limits  the  number  of  hours  which 
women  shall  be  permitted  to  work  to  ten  hours  in 
a  single  day  in  such  employments  as  are  carried 
on  in  mechanical  establishments,  factories,  and 
laundries  would  tend  to  preserve  the  health  of 
women  and  assure  the  production  of  vigorous 
offspring  by  them  and  would  conduce  directly  to 
the  health,  morals,  and  general  welfare  of  the 
public,  and  that  such  legislation  would  fall  clearly 
within  the  police  powers  of  the  State." 

IV.  All  phenomena  that  concern  family  life 
should  be  carefully  studied  and  their  bearing  on 


General  Considerations  285 

the  state  ascertained  as  exactly  as  possible. 
There  is  no  subject,  for  example,  from  which  such 
wild  conclusions  are  drawn  as  the  matter  of  divorce. 
The  average  moralist,  but  more  particularly  the 
clergy,  seeing  the  fairly  astonishing  increase  in 
divorce  during  the  last  decade,  jimip  to  the  con- 
clusion that  family  life  is  decadent  and  immor- 
ality flagrantly  on  the  increase.  They  point  to 
the  indubitable  fact  that  a  century  ago  divorces 
were  insignificant  in  nimiber;  and  they  infer  that 
morality  was  then  on  a  much  higher  level  than  it 
is  now.  Such  alarmists  neglect  certain  elementary 
facts.  The  flippant  manner  in  which  marriage 
is  treated  by  the  Restoration  dramatists  and  by 
novelists  of  the  i8th  century,  the  callous  sexual 
morality  revealed  in  diaries  and  in  the  conversa- 
tions of  men  like  Johnson  alone  are  sufficient  to 
suggest  the  need  of  a  readjustment  of  one's  view 
regarding  the  standard  of  morality  in  the  past. 
A  century  ago  it  was  the  duty  of  a  gentleman  to 
drink  to  excess;  and  it  was  presumed  that  a  guest 
had  not  enjoyed  his  dinner  unless  he  was  at  least 
comfortably  the  worse  for  liquor.  This  view  of 
drunkenness  is  admirably  depicted  in  Dickens's 
Pickwick  Papers^  where  intoxication  is  treated 
throughout  as  something  merely  humorous. 

There  were  just  as  many  unhappy  marriages 
formerly  in  proportion  to  the  population  as  there 
are  to-day;  but  the  wife  was  held  effectually  from 
application  for  a  divorce  not  only  by  rigid  laws 
but  by  the  sentiment  of  society,  which  ostracised 


286      History  of  Women's  Rights 

a  divorced  woman,  and  furthermore  by  her  lack 
of  means  and  of  opportunity  for  earning  an  in- 
dependent Hvelihood.  To-day  women  are  not 
inclined  to  tolerate  a  husband  who  is  brutal  or 
debauched.  Alarmists  make  a  mistake  when 
they  place  too  much  emphasis  on  the  seeming 
triviality  of  the  reasons,  justifying  their  course, 
which  wives  advance  when  applying  for  a  separa- 
tion. For  example,  the  phrase  "incompatibility 
of  temperament"  is  in  a  great  number  of  cases 
merely  a  euphemism  for  something  much  worse. 
The  clergy  will  coimsel  a  woman  to  bear  with  what 
they  call  Christian  resignation  a  husband  ad- 
dicted to  drink  or  scarred  by  the  diseases  that 
are  a  consequence  of  sin.  Abstractly  considered, 
this  may  conceivably  be  good  advice.  But  viewed 
in  a  common-sense  way  it  is  the  duty  of  a  woman 
to  reflect  on  the  consequences  of  conceiving  child- 
ren from  such  a  man ;  and  the  researches  of  physi- 
cians will  furnish  her  with  incontrovertible  facts 
regarding  the  impaired  health  of  the  offspring  of 
such  a  union.  A  law  which  would  permit  of  no 
divorce  under  such  conditions,  instead  of  bene- 
fiting the  state,  would  injure  it  in  its  most 
vital  asset — ^healthy  children,  the  coming  citizens. 
Doubtless  the  divorce  laws  in  many  States  a^ 
too  lax.  But  sweeping  generalities  based  on 
theory  will  not  remedy  matters.  Divorce  may 
simply  be  a  symptom,  not  a  disease;  a  revolt 
against  unjust  conditions ;  and  the  way  to  do  away 
with  divorce  or  reduce  the  frequency  of  it  is  to 


General  Considerations  287 

remedy  the  evil  social    conditions   which,  in  a 
great  many  instances,  are  responsible. 

The  fact  is,  the  institution  of  marriage  is  going 

!  through  a  crisis.  The  old  view  that  marriage 
is  a  complete  merging  of  the  wife  in  the  husband 
and  that  the  latter  is  absolute  monarch  of  his 
home  is  being  questioned.  When  a  man  with 
this  idea  and  a  woman  with  a  far  different  one 
marry,  there  is  likely  to  be  a  clash.     Marriage 

.  as  a  real  partnership  based  on  equality  of  goods 
and  of  interests  finds  an  increasing  number  of 
advocates.  There  is  great  reason  to  believe 
that  the  issue  will  be  only  for  the  good  and  that 
from  doubt  and  revolt  a  more  enduring  ideal  will 

(  arise,  based  on  a  sure  foimdation  of  perfect 
understanding. 


INDEX 


Adultery,  under  Roman  Law, 
19-22;  laws  modified  by 
Justinian,  68-69  ;  among 
Germanic  peoples,  80,  86, 
87;  see  also  under  various 
States. 

Age  of  Consent,  under  English 
Law,  138-139;  in  the  United 
States,  155-156,  167-168, 
275;  see  also  under  various 
States. 

Alabama,  175-176 

Apostles,  teachings  about 
women,  55-57 

Arizona,  176-177 

Arkansas,  177-178 

Attainder,  bills  of,  in  Roman 
Empire,  35-37;  laws  of  Ar- 
cadius,  Honorius,  and  Con- 
stantine,  75-76;  of  Pope 
Innocent  III,  116 


B 


Breach  of  Promise,  under 
Roman  Law,  12;  modifica- 
tion by  Constantine,  72; 
by  Justinian,  73 

Business,  women  in,  under 
Roman  Empire,  29;  in  Eng- 
land, 143;  in  the  United 
19  289 


States,    173-174;    see    also 
under  each  State. 


California,  178-180 

Chastisement,  right  of  hus- 
band to  chastise  wife  under 
English  Law,  125-127 

Christ,  teachings  about 
women,  52-53 

Colorado,  1 80-1 81 

Connecticut,  1 81-182 

Consent  of  women  to  marriage, 
under  Roman  Law,  10; 
opinions  of  Church  Fathers, 
60;  enactments  of  Christ- 
ian Emperors,  74 

Crimes  against  women,  under 
Roman  Law,  41-42,  76; 
among  Germanic  peoples, 
94-97;  under  English  Law, 

138-139 

Curtesy,  defined,  174;  under 
English  Law,  127-129;  see 
also  under  various  States. 

Custom,  power  of,  266-269 


Delaware,  182-183 
Discrepancy  in  wages  paid  to 

women,  280-283 
District  of  Columbia,  183-184 


290 


Index 


Divorce,  under  Roman  Law, 
22-26;  modified  by  Theo- 
dosius  and  Valentinian,  66; 
by  Justinian,  67 ;  by  Justin, 
68;  among  Germanic  peo- 
ples, 85-86,  88;  under 
Canon  Law,  111-116;  under 
English  Law,  133-137;  gen- 
eral considerations,  285- 
287;  see  also  under  various 
States. 

Double  standard  of  morality, 
273-274 

Dower,  defined,  174;  right  of, 
in  English  Law,  128;  see 
also  under  different  States. 

Dowry,  under  Roman  Law, 
14-16,  19;  among  ancient 
Gauls,  78;  among  Germanic 
peoples,  80,  83,  92 


Education,  rights  of  women  to 
an,  under  Roman  Empire, 
42-45;  in  England,  139- 
143;  in  the  United  States, 
168-170 


Fathers  of  the  Church,  their 
commands  concerning 
women,  57-63 

Florida,  184-186 


Georgia,  186-187 

Gifts  between  husband  and 
wife,  under  Roman  Law,  16- 
17;  changes  by  Justinian, 
73-74 


Guardian,  decay  of  power  of, 
under  Roman  Law,  7-8 

Guardians,  women  as,  under 
Roman  Law,  3;  laws  modi- 
fied by  Justinian,  75;  see 
also  under  various  States. 

Guardianship  under  Roman 
Law,  1-3;  among  Germanic 
peoples,  81-82 


H 


Husband  and  wife,  under 
Roman  Law,  12-22;  among 
Germanic  peoples,  84-85 ; 
under  Canon  Law,  106,  no, 
III;  under  English  Law, 
124-133;  see  also  under 
various  States. 


Idaho,  187-188 

Illinois,  188-189;  Ritchie  case, 
283-284 

Indian  Territory,  191 

Indiana,  1 89-191 

Inheritance  rights  of  women, 
under  Roman  Law,  34-40, 
74;  modified  by  Justinian, 
75;  among  Germanic  peo- 
ples, 88-91;  under  English 
Law,  121,  122,  128 

Intellectual  inferiority  of 
women,  argument  discussed, 

255-259 
Iowa,  192-193 


Jewish  ideas  about  women, 
54-55 


Index 


291 


Kansas,  193-194 
Kentucky,  194-196 


Lecky,  analysis  of  character  of 

women,  261-264 
Louisiana,  196-198 

M 

Macaulay  on  the  effects  of 
freedom,  270-273 

Maine,  198 

Marriage,  women  in,  under 
Roman  Law,  9-26;  opinions 
of  Church  Fathers,  60-61; 
among  ancient  Gauls  and 
Germans,  78,  80;  among 
Germanic  peoples,  83,  84; 
under  Canon  Law,  1 07-1 10; 
under  English  Law,  125- 
133;  modern  changes  in 
views  of,  287;  see  also  imder 
various  States. 

Maryland,  199-200 

Massachusetts,  200-201 

Michigan,  202-203 

Minnesota,  203-204 

Mississippi,  204-205 

Missouri,  205-207 

Montana,  207-208 

Moral  argument  against  suf- 
frage, 259-261 

N 

Nebraska,  208-209 
Nevada,  209-210 
New  Hampshire,  211-212 
New  Jersey,  212-213 
New  Mexico,  213-214 


New  York,  214-215 
North  Carolina,  215-216 
North  Dakota,  216-217 


Ohio,  217-219 

Oklahoma,  219-220 

Old   Maid,   treatment   of,  by 

Christians,  246-247 
Oregon,  220-221 


Partiality  of  Roman  Law  to 
women,  19,  33,  34 

Pennsylvania,  221-222 

Physiological  argument  against 
suffrage,  238-243 

Political  or  social  argument 
'against  suffrage,  243-255 

Power  of  father,  under  Roman 
Law,  2,  10,  20,  21,  30,  35; 
under  early  Christians,  55, 
60;  among  Germanic  peo- 
ples, 81,  84,  91;  under 
English  Law,  123 

Professions,  women  in,  in  Eng- 
land, 143-144;  in  United 
States,  171-173,  and  see 
under  various  ^States;  need 
of  opening  all,  to  women, 
277-280 

Property  rights  of  married 
women,  under  Roman  Law, 
14-16;  among  Germanic 
peoples,  84, 88,  92-94;  under 
English  Law,  127-133;  of 
widows  and  single  women, 
under  Roman  Law,  26-29; 
among  Germanic  peoples, 
88,    93-94;   under    English 


292 


Index 


Property  rights — Continued 

Law,     121 ;    in   the   United 

States,  156 
Protection  of   property  of 

children  under  Roman  Law, 

40-41 


Respect  for  women,  among 
Romans,  3-7 ;  among 
ancient  Germans,  79-80 

Rhode  Island,  222-223 

Ritchie  case  in  Illmois,  283- 
284 

Roman  Catholic  Church,  atti- 
tude to  women,  87-88,  98, 
I 06-1 19 


Second  marriages,  opinions  of 
Church  Fathers  concerning, 
61;  Legislation  of  Christian 
Emperors,  69-72 
Slaves,  women,  under  Roman 
Law,    46-49;    among    Ger- 
manic   peoples,    97;   under 
Canon  Law,  in 
South  Carolina,  223-224 
South  Dakota,  224-225 
Suffrage,  woman,  in  England, 
144-148;    in  the  United 


States,    151-155.     157-167; 
see  also  under  various  States. 
Suits,     women    engaging    in, 
under  Roman  Law,  30-33 


Tennessee,  226 

Texas,  227 

Theological  argument  against 

women's  rights,  237-238 
Training  of  women  for  higher 

ideals,  276-277 


U 


Utah,  227-228 


Vermont,  228-229 
Vestal  Virgins,  45 
Virginia,  229-230 

W 

Washington,  230-231 
West  Virginia,  231-232 
Wisconsin,  232-233 
Women:     see    under    Divorce, 

Dowry,    Marriage,  Husband 

and  Wife,  etc. 
Wyoming,  234 


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American  Political  History 

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